A Traitor of the Highest Degree
by Terrapin Jim
Summary: In the chaos of war and death, one man sets out to protect everything he has ever known. But, in the end, is it better to betray your village, or your heart? Heavy AU, OOC, Being Rewritten. NarutoxYugito
1. War

"In many a mountain pass,  
Or meadow green and fresh,  
Mass shall encounter mass  
Of shuddering human flesh;  
Opposing ordnance roar  
Across the swaths of slain,  
And blood in torrents pour  
In vain -- always in vain,  
For war breeds war again!"

War song, by John Davidson

* * *

A Traitor of the Highest Degree

* * *

The first thing he noticed was her hair. It flowed down her back in a cascade of shimmering light. Insubstantial motions, delicate waves caused by every move she made, coursed through her hair, making it dance and sparkle in the moonlight. Every now and again, it would light up crimson from the frequent fireballs that pierced the night sky, but overall it remained that same heavenly shade of blond.

What drew him next were her eyes, perfect almond orbs perfectly set in her regal face. They brought back memories of his family, of eating ramen with Iruka or Jiraiya, they reminded him of Ichiraku Ramen, and the warm welcome he always received after a hard day's training. He was filled with a sense of familiarity and companionship.

Of course, that could be attributed to the small seal, tattoo like, on her shoulder, visible only due to a lucky strike of his wind jutsu (revealing more of her tantalizingly lithe body, a situation he was simultaneously aroused and embarrassed by) that marked her as a fellow Jinchuuriki. Perhaps it was their shared fate that attracted him the most. To be feared and hated for something out their control, to be marked different and shunned for it.... that was a pain few knew....  
Or perhaps everyone knew it... perhaps fate made it so, on some level, for everyone.

Bah. He was starting to sound like that bastard Neji.

Uzumaki Naruto, know everywhere as the Kyuubi, had enough time to catch one last glimpse of the beauty know as Nii Yugito before the tide of battle swept them apart.

* * *

"Kyuubi!" A voice rang out, somehow managing to conquer the racket that inherently filled an army camp when the soldiers had been stationed without action for too long. "Kyuubi!" This time, more forcefully.

Naruto groaned. Sasuke getting off his High-and-mighty ass always meant another S-ranked mission from HQ. Probably signed by the Hokage. All it meant was another night of no sleep, impossible odds, last second miracles and death. He bit back the urge to groan. Maybe if he didn't answer, Sasuke would go be a prick elsewhere.

"Kyuubi! Get off your ass and report to the command tent! We received some Intel and Fugaku-sama wants to send you out on a mission." Naruto grimaced. He fucking _knew_ it. Sasuke kicked him in the side. "Get up! Are you a goddamn Nara now?"

Naruto blearily looked up, and flipped Sasuke off before lying back down. "Get of my damn back and go tell the commander I'll be there momentarily, bastard." Sasuke stalked off, muttering about damn lazy foxes.

"Really Naruto, I don't think you should piss off the commander's son."

"It's fate, Neji. He was fated to be a prick, and I'm fated to piss him off." Naruto got up, this time with a grin on his face. He clasped Neji's arm and half-hugged him.  
"That's rich, you talking about fate." Neji said with a smirk on his face. He returned Naruto's embrace. "I'm glad to see you no worse for wear."  
Naruto released him. "How did your mission go?"

"Eh. Same old same old. Spy on the damn cloud-nins. Ambush the damn cloud-nins. Retreat from the damn cloud-nins... You?"

Naruto sighed. "That bitch Yugito and a squad of Anbu started raiding out supply line. I had to go out with two squads and rive her off. And the bastard Fugaku didn't let me command. Gave it some relative of his, a brother named Uchiha Riyuki or something. Usual Uchiha. Rattled on for half an hour about his fucking superiority to the rest of us, and got himself killed by Yugito. The Uchiha here declared a vendetta against Neko-bitch, Load of crap that'll do."

"Clan vendettas are powerful things, Naruto. Watch out for them." Neji shrugged. "Let's go. We're late enough for the Commander's meeting."

* * *

Sarutobi sighed. He was far too old for his own good. He glanced up and the picture of his successor, and predecessor, with a semi-glare. "I ought not of had to govern through two wars, Minato. I'm far too old for this. Fugaku tried to start a sanction against your son in the council, sighting gross negligence of power. According to Fugaku, Naruto "let Uchiha Riyuki, my brother, be killed in a most dishonorable and ill-befitting death for a man of his caliber without raising an adequate defense.""

Sarutobi stopped and stared. "And now I'm talking to a picture, out loud." He shook his head and lifted his pipe to his mouth. He started to review the latest report of his commander of the Iwa front, Hatake Kakashi.

A polite knock disturbed him. "Hokage-sama, might I enter?"

The elderly Hokage smiled, weary and sad as he was. "Of course Hiashi, my doors are always open for you." The large wooden doors opened, and one of his staunchest allies on the council, Hyuuga Hiashi entered the room, followed by his brother Hizashi.

"I apologize for my lateness, Hokage-sama. I was visiting my daughter's grave."

Sarutobi grimaced. The cloud's attempt, 4 years ago, to kidnap the then-12-year-old Hyuuga Hinata had ended up with the deaths of both Hinata and the jounin-oyabun of Kumo. It had stressed the already brittle relationship between the two villages, and was a direct cause of the war they now fought. "No offense is taken, Hiashi-sama. Hinata was an excellent young woman, and was happened to her was a tragedy of the highest degree." Hiashi mournfully nodded his head. He hadn't been the same man since the incident. Much of his confidence was sapped by his daughter's death. "As much of a pleasure as it is" Sarutobi continued "What is the reason for your visit today."

Hiashi paused. "My brother," Hizashi gave a small nod and a small, embarrassed smile, "was wondering if you had heard any news of Neji from the front. The Hyuuga clan is anxious for news of his wellbeing and deeds at the front."

This time, Sarutobi allowed a small smile to grace his timeworn face. Hyuuga Neji was the first branch-house Hyuuga to have his caged-bird seal removed. He was a test case. Hiashi and Hizashi had fought with the Hyuuga elders until everyone was blue in the face for the opportunity. Sarutobi knew that if Neji's actions benefitted the clan well, the Caged-bird seal had the distinct possibility of being resigned to history. Of course, the opposite was also true if he acted dishonorably....

The Third reached into the drawer where he kept the folders of influential ninja and their kin. He took out a sheet and started reading "He has the full compliments of his commanding officers, the marks of merit many times over for saving the lives of his fellow Shinobi, the commendations of the Jinchuuriki Naruto and has preformed many extreme missions in the name of his village, with an unbelievable 90% mission success rating." He looked up at the two smiling men. "He has become quite the war hero."

"Excellent." Hiashi stood up. "Thank you very much for making me privy to this information, Hokage-sama, and thank you for spending your valuable time with us." He and Hizashi both bowed. "The clan will be most pleased by the news."

"It was my pleasure, Hiashi-sama." Sarutobi intoned. "your clan has always been a friend to mine, and you have always been my staunchest of supporters. Any such information about your kin such as this is a trifle, compared to the sacrifices your clan has long made for Konoha."

The two men both bowed again, before politely letting themselves out of his office. Sarutobi sighed. If all his councilmen were like Hiashi, perhaps Konoha wouldn't be in the mess it was now. Maybe if he was a bit younger, if Minato was still alive, if Jiraiya had succeeded him at the start of the conflict..... Sarutobi frowned "and if I was born a women I'm probably be an ugly old shrew." He muttered to himself. "We have to deal with the plate we're dealt. A Hokage has no times for "ifs""  
Back to business then. What do with Naruto.....

* * *

The 16-year old Jinchuuriki entered his commanding officer's tent, Neji close on his heels. "Kyuubi" Fugaku said in a curt, low tone. "You're late. Perhaps you should get up earlier?" Sasuke smirked at him. Goddamn daddy's-boy. "I'll take that to thought, Fugaku-sama." he muttered, with the barest hint of sarcasm. He looked up. "Your son mentioned something of a mission?"

"Yes, Kyuubi. A mission." Fugaku repeated, as if Naruto was some slow-five year old who couldn't understand anything. " I want you to wipe out the port city of Taikumo, where the Kumo nin's have been shipping in supplies to fuel their war effort. The Nibi and possibly the Hachibi might also be present. Kill them. All of them. After all, mindless slaughter has always been your forte, Kyuubi." A low chuckle rippled through the assembled Uchiha.

Naruto swallowed an angry retort, and his pride. "As your wish, Fugaku-sama, it shall be done."

* * *

**Author's Note: **Hello. Corcha here. Hoped you like my first fic. It was spawned after a late night reading of some of Turtledove's work. (I'm in the middle of WW1) For those that don't know, he writes alternative history. The Confederacy remained independent after the Civil war (or War of Succession). And I started to think of what would have happened if The Hyuuga incident had happened when Hinata was twelve, instead. Hope you like it. Any reviews would be welcome (save for flames, which shall be used to roast my marshmallows. (I can't eat marshmallows. Damn Gelatin. In goddam everything.)) **R&R!**

**Author's Note (Jan. 22 2010) **

Changed my name twice, which is the most obvious difference. Anyways, I noticed that my old chapter divides weren't showing up on the site, but would on the document when I downloaded it. I've changed them, so it should be better. If there aren't any chapter divides, and you made it through this far, **please send me a message**. Thanks! T.J.


	2. The Beginning

"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it."

-George Bernard Shaw

* * *

The sun was high in the sky when Konoha's citizen's gathered before the Hokage tower, three days after the failed attempt by Kumo to kidnap Hinata, the Hyuuga heiress. Although the Hokage had yet to release an official statement on the attack, claiming that it was still under investigation, word had leaked through the village that the head councilman, Danzo, had decided to inform the village of what he knew about the attack. Most didn't realize that he did this without the Hokage's approval, even though he was within his legal rights and a Councilman, and most wouldn't have cared. A freshly-graduated Gennin had been murdered in their midst, and the people of Konoha wanted answers.

None more so than Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Neji. The two were teammates on the same Gennin squad, under Uchiha Itachi, and were Hinata's closest friends in the Ninja academy. Neji was Hinata's cousin and, by his own request, started his training a year later, so that he could stay with her. They had both met Naruto when one of his pranks went wrong, and he was catapulted by a flawed jutsu attempt deep into the Hyuuga clan compound. Hinata had actually hid behind Neji when the blond had crashed into the nearby magnolia tree. In a strange twist of fate, (noted later by Neji, which irked Naruto to no end), the Jinchuuriki's pants had caught in the shrubbery, hanging him upside down by his underwear. Neji had fallen down laughing, while Hinata collapsed for an altogether different reason, face tomato red. Fortunately for Naruto, Hiashi, the clan head, was in one of his rare good moods, and had laughed when confronted with the scene, before inviting Naruto to dinner. The threesome had been fast friends ever since.

'At least' Naruto thought with a grimace,' until Hinata was murdered.' The orange jumpsuit wearing Gennin carefully pushed his way through the crowds. For once, the natural aversion the villages seemed to possess towards him was paying off. He was nearly to the front of the stage, and the day was hot enough without the crown pressing in on him. He turned back to look at his teammates. "Hurry up, you guys!"

"Sorry we don't have your magical ability to swim through crowds, Bastard" Inuzuka Kiba yelled at him, his voice slightly muffled by the armpit an unlucky shove had pushed his face into. Kiba had been the dead last at the academy, Naruto being around the middle and Neji being the rookie of the year (something he would never stop crowing about, to Kiba and Naruto's annoyance.) Kiba had actually foregone his usual fur-lined jacket in deference to the heat, something Naruto was secretly jealous of, while Neji was sporting his usual white kimono.

"It doesn't really matter anyway," Neji stated quietly. The Hyuuga prodigy had been extremely silent for the last three days, mourning. The only way Naruto had managed to drag him out of the clan compound that afternoon was by promising information about Hinata's killers. Neji had agreed readily.

He had wanted to know who he should hate.

* * *

"The Kumo-nins" Neji started, "Seem to have a mild presence in the harbor, where the goods are delivered. Most of the town is lightly guarded, a few Gennin and a Chuunin at most. The harbor has a squad of Kumo's black Ops, assorted Jounin, and..." He trailed off.

"And? And what!" Sasuke demanded. He had been placed in command by his father, and ordered Neji to scan the city with his Byakugan. "What do you see with those damn eyes of yours?"

Neji looked up at Sasuke, then sideways at Naruto. "The Nibi. Neko-bitch is in town."

Sasuke got flashed a feral smirk. "Excellent. Then she will die and we, gentlemen, will be heroes." He looked up at the Ninja surrounding him. "Fugaku-sama has ordered the city purged. Not one life, Shinobi or otherwise, is to be spared."

* * *

Danzo sat down on the comfortable leather chair he favored for important personal meetings. "You sir, are plotting treason."

Uchiha Fugaku started. He immediately reached for one of his Kunai, but stopped when twenty of Danzo guards, the rouge Anbu group called Root stepped into the room from the various entrances. "Did you really think we wouldn't find out about it? We are the roots of the tree, Fugaku. We hold it up from deep within the earth, we support it through clandestine means, we do what others balk at. We are everywhere." Danzo said with a smirk on his face. "You were planning on using the chaos caused by the Kidnap attempt, the division amongst the Hokage's power base, to supplant him. You have been waiting a very long time for such an occurrence."

Fugaku eyed Danzo warily. "What does the Hokage think of these baseless accusations?"

Danzo grinned, his lips stretching from his one visible eye to deep underneath the bandages that covered part of his face. "Nothing. You have never indicated your treasonous goals to him, and I have not seen fit to do so either. I was hoping to make a deal."

Fugaku narrowed his eyes. "You've always stood steadfast behind the Hokage in the council. You combined strength is, if I was to ever dream of making such an attempt, what always prevented his downfall."

Danzo sighed."Fool boy. We merely play off each other. And besides, the closer I am to him, the easier it is to betray him."

Fugaku actually felt hope for the first time since Danzo had dropped his little bombshell. "You said something about a deal?"

Danzo chuckled. "Yes my boy, a deal. But first, you must agree to holster your rebellious activities, for now. Konoha needs to be unified, if only on the surface, against foreign powers."

"Kumo?"

"Amongst others. I have a speech planned today; one that will make Sarutobi's worse dreams a reality."

Fugaku smiled. "His overthrow?"

Danzo shook his head. " War."

* * *

"What!" Naruto said furiously. "Civilians too!?"

Sasuke grinned. "Yes. This petty town shall be an example of what happens when Konoha's wrath is provoked. Come sunrise, it shall only exist in memory. So does Fugaku-sama order."

"That's a load of crap!" Naruto retorted, red in the face. "We're supposed to attack military targets, not civilians! I don't care how much of a Daddy's boy you are, Fucker, we don't kill innocents."

"They're not innocent. They're complacent towards Kumo, raising no complaint towards their unabashed aggression." Sasuke shot back. "They're as guilty as that Nibi-bitch down there. And perhaps as guilty as you, Kyuubi. Disobeying your commander's orders is High treason. Am I going to have to bring you in?"

For the first time, Naruto realized that He, Neji, and the few Hyuuga ninja with him were outnumbered three to one by the Uchiha Shinobi around them, disregarding the other Konoha nin around him. Where they would side is conflict broke out at the moment was a mystery, and Naruto wasn't ready to take any chances. Neji might die, or even, laughable as it was, Naruto himself.

And then the town would be wiped out anyways, just at a later date.

Naruto sighed. "No."

"Good Kyuubi." Sasuke preened, like Naruto was some prized pet. "The Kumo nins, and their civilian kin must," He started,

* * *

"Die!" Danzo bellowed, his fists pounding the podium. Naruto, Neji and Kiba, along with the rest of the crowd, roared their approval. "Too long has Kumo thought themselves the gods of the Shinobi world, fit to do as the please and without repercussions! They must be taught the errors of their ways, the price of their arrogance!"

When Danzo first stepped onto the stage, Naruto had been bitterly disappointed. He had been expecting a mighty ninja to address the crowd, not a frail, one-eyed elder. But while Danzo didn't look all that impressive, his fiery words and booming voice had quickly changed Naruto's opinion of him. "Yeah!" He yelled at the stage, joined by Kiba. "Teach those cloud bastards a lesson!"

Danzo suddenly stopped talking. The crowd immediately quieted, eagerly anticipating his next words. When he finally spoke again, his voice was leaden with the heavy air of a mourning father. "Hyuuga Hinata was a daughter of Konoha, top Kunoichi of her class, and a promising Gennin, freshly graduated. Her loss to the abominable Kumo-nins was a travesty that makes the entire village cry out in grief." And, to Naruto's surprise, people who had been talking of Hinata's death as a matter of gossip, something he had already gotten into fights over, were crying. So, when he turned around, was Neji. "The vicious murder of a 12 year old, 12 year old!, Gennin right in our midst, in the middle of the so-called strongest hidden village, is a mark of dishonor on us. That we let a innocent girl be killed, before she could experience life shames us all, and rightly doe it." His voice suddenly became loud and powerful again. "But she fought! Hyuuga Hinata fought her aspiring captors! When they attempted to drag her out of her house in the middle of the night, she killed the Chuunin holding her with a single thrust to the heart! When the Jounin-oyabun of Kumo came out her with Kunai, she closed chakra points in his leg! She fought for Konoha, so that the blood that flowed through her veins remained in Konoha!" The crowd screamed in deference to her bravery. "She, a lone Gennin, accomplished something even a top Jounin would balk at!"

In reality, nothing of the sort had happened. Yes, she had killed the Chuunin, no more than a freshly appointed Gennin, with a single palm strike. The Jounin oyabun had hit her into unconsciousness and the damage down to her legs had been dealt by Hinata's branch-house guard, who traded his life for it. But no one but the Hokage, Hiashi, and Danzo knew that. The investigating Anbu were sworn to secrecy as an S-class secret. And even if it was leaked, Hinata's tragic image, what Danzo was exploiting, wouldn't be harmed.

"We must take from her example! We, like brave Hinata, must fight! We, like her, can't balk at pain, can't hide from our responsibilities to the village! Even if, like her, we receive a kunai for our efforts, we will die like she did. With the name Konoha on our breath!" Danzo shouted at his captivated audience. "Who is with me!?"

* * *

Fire raged throughout Taikumo. "Stand with me!" Naruto roared. His squad regrouped around him. The 16 year old Jinchuuriki took a quick headcount. "Damnit. Fucking Kumo bastards got Kenshiro!" The seven dead Kumo-nins at his own feet were ignored. "Keep moving out!"

Naruto tried not to listen to the screams of the women and children as he fought. He was only glad that his squad was assigned to the harbor assault, where there were actual Shinobi to be fought.

* * *

"I am!" Naruto shouted, before anyone else had time too. The crowd turned to look at him.

Danzo hid a sly smirk. Even though he had promoted weeding out emotion from Shinobi, the civilian masses were oh-so easy to manipulate with it. And it had even netted him, to his surprise, the Kyuubi. He gestured for the boy to join him on stage. "Look! One of you is willing to fight!" Naruto beamed with pride, "Even the Kyuubi will defend his master, Konoha!" Naruto's smile deflated a bit.

Immediately, others started crying out that they too would join the fight against the evil of Kumo. Danzo placed a fatherly hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Join us! We are in a crusade, against Kumo and its evil ilk! Protect your loved ones! Force back the advance of Kumo! Fight for Konoha!"

The crowd started to shout out, and, to Naruto's shock, they included him.

"Danzo!"

"Konoha!"

"Kyuubi!"

"Danzo!"

"Konoha!"

"Kyuubi!"

Danzo smirked. "Walk among them, boy. You've earned it today."

Naruto had scare taken three steps before he was swept onto the shoulders of the crowd. "Kyuubi! Kyuubi! Kyuubi!" He pretended that they were shouting "Naruto".

Danzo shouted out. "March through the city! Proclaim the might of our cause!"

As Naruto was carried through Konoha, surrounded, for the first time in his life, by people shouting in approval of him, he had time for one thought.

'This war... this crusade will sweep evil from the land! All will now Konoha as the force of good! And they'll know Uzumaki Naruto too!"

* * *

Naruto stared at the body of a child that had somehow made it's into the harbor. "Sweep fucking evil my ass." he muttered under his breath.

"Kyuubi! The Nibi has been spotted on the other side of the harbor!" A Konoha nin yelled out to him. Sure enough, he could feel the familiar foreboding demonic chakra naturally emitted.

"Let's go" Naruto said, before he started running through the streets of Taikumo.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Thanks for the reviews! It blew my mind to see all the places people were reading my work from. Hope you like my explanation for the Uchiha, which was a major concern for most. As to why Danzo can call Naruto Kyuubi without being executed, that will be explained later.

Thanks again for the suport. Looking forward to anything you all have to say. (still, no flames please.) And anyone who recognizes where I got the name Riyuki (Fugaku's brother) from will get an e-cookie. It's homage to one of my favorite authors on here.

Thanks again. **R&R!**


	3. Destruction

"The evil of the world is made possible by nothing but the sanction you give it."

**-Ayn Rand**

* * *

There was something truly magical about sunrise in the desert, Hatake Kakashi, commander of Konoha's Iwa front, decided. The mountainous wasteland that surrounded them was, unlike the land Suna resided in, a desert completely bare save for various-sized rocks that littered the countryside in every direction. When the sun rose, each rock cast a dark shadow and everything stood out in sharp relief. The sky bled a beautiful array of crimson and orange, and the cliffs glittered with the light of a thousand suns. It was a wondrous sight to behold.

Then again, so were the Iwa-nins that had been attempting to sneak up on his base. If Kakashi had been the Tsuchikage he would have demanded the squad leader's head for not factoring in the sunrise while plotting his surprise attack.

As it was, Kakashi was only the poor ninja's enemy. He would demand the man's head all the same.

"Will you do the honors, Kazekage-sama?" He said, turning towards the robed figure standing beside him.

"Of course" Sabaku Gaara replied, already uncorking the giant gourd he always carried with him.

* * *

Blue fire blew over Naruto's head, reducing the ship behind him to ash instantly. He made a few hand signs, and the ash, swept by chakra-driven wind, flew directly at Yugito's eyes. She was surrounded by the blue demonic chakra that was the signature of the Nibi, obscuring her delicate features and making her look abominable. Of course, the same could be said for Naruto, coated with the Kyuubi's red chakra as he was.

Yugito jumped out of the ash cloud, casting kunai at him as she went. Naruto ignored the projectiles. Neither of them could be harmed by mundane weapons when they were in their semi-demonic state, but the kunai usually proved to be an excellent distraction. It was hard to overcome years of training to dodge the damn things.

Yugito chose to attack him directly, lunging at him at him with her chakra-covered fist.

Naruto smirked. He had something up his sleeve that she hadn't seen before. A large, red swirling ball formed in his palm. "Bad choice, Bitch. Rasengan!"

The Kyuubified-rasengan struck her in her stomach. She recoiled in on herself, her face momentarily inches from his own. Their chakra boiled, raging at the close contact. The dense haze around them was red. No, blue. No, Purple. No, red....

For one instant, Naruto was staring directly into Yugito's eyes. Their locked gazes bored into each other and, for a moment, her eyes filled his universe.

Then she was thrown by the immense force of the Rasengan, catapulted across the wreckage their fight had strewn around them. As she was cast away from him, however, her hand came down, completely by accident, and raked his face. One of her Nibi-fied, clawlike fingers cut a deep gash over and through his left eye. Yugito landed in the dust, meters away, blood launching from her open mouth.

"Fuck!" Naruto immediately reached with his hand to cover his ruined face. His eye was completely gone, but he could already feel Kyuubi's chakra at work in the destroyed socket. Across their battlefield, Yugito slowly got up, her limbs trembling. Naruto braced himself as he felt her gather up the Nibi's demonic chakra. He raised his other arm to ward of her imminent attack, and started forming one-handed seals with it.

But Yugito used her gathered strength directly on the ground beneath her. She launched through the air, backwards, away from Naruto. He let his own chakra, save for what was healing his face, slowly dissipate.

As she escaped, their eyes never left each other.

* * *

"Really, Naruto, I really don't see why you can't perform the freaking Jutsu!" Neji complained loudly.

"Neji, mind your language." Hinata admonished, always the proper, if slightly shy, eleven year old.

"I don't give a darn!" Neji said, hotly. "The idiot can't even perform the freaking Bunshin no Jutsu!"

"Humph. Like it matters. Kawamari is still my forte." Naruto muttered angrily.

"It does matter, Idiot! The graduate test has been the Bunshin for the last three-freaking-years!" Naruto glared at him.

"Just calm down, both of you. Naruto-kun, Neji's right. Neji, don't be rude." Hinata said, in the quiet, and demanding, way she had. "Give it another go, Naruto-kun."

"Sure thing, Hinata-chan!" Naruto replied cheerfully. The poor girl's face turned bright red. Neji started laughing.

* * *

"Perform the fucking Jutsu, Neji!" Naruto roared.

"Calm the fuck down, Uzumaki! You need to be still, Dammit!" Neji yelled back. "Take your goddamn hand of your ugly-ass face!"

Naruto forcibly restrained his panic. He was sweating profusely. Neji carefully removed Naruto's trembling hand from his wound and winced in sympathy pain.

"Is it bad?" Naruto asked, voice tremulous. He had never been wounded somewhere the Kyuubi couldn't heal immediately.

Neji quickly preformed a field diagnostic jutsu. He sighed in relief. "It's a clean cut, and it's already healing. If what we know of the Kyuubi's chakra holds true, you should be fine." Naruto's shoulders sagged, what remained of his face broke out in a grin. Neji smiled. "At least now you have an excuse for being so damn ugly."

"Asshole." Naruto lightly punched him. "Your best friend gets wounded, and you joke." Now that he had calmed down, he could feel his eye healing, if at a slightly slower rate than he was used too. "Sorry for freaking out."

Neji clapped him on the back. "It's fine. It's not everyday you lose an eye, however temporarily."

Neji helped Naruto up, the blond ninja's balance slightly disturbed by the drastic change to his vision. "Come on. Let's go pick up some chicks. They'll all wonder what you did that's making you look so much better."

Naruto scowled. "Such a fucking asshole. I think I'll apply for medical leave while this baby's still fresh. I'll get away from your douchebaggery."

They both started laughing. The city burned around them.

* * *

Back at the Konoha army camp, Fugaku let his men have a brief moment of celebration. Word had just reached him of Taikumo's destruction. Cheers filled the air, as well as the occasional jutsu from an overenthusiastic ninja. Normally, Fugaku would chastise them for such excess, but he let them be.

After all, the peasants had to celebrate the greatness of their betters every once in awhile. Fugaku had already sent a letter bursting with praise for his son's accomplishment. Sauske had remained on the hillside over Taikumo, directing the battle to its overwhelming victory. Fugaku hoped that his son would be promoted, perhaps taking command somewhere else.

After all the Uchiha were born to lead. The rest of the Konoha Nin were meant to follow.

In his pocket, Fugaku held a missive from Danzo. It was a short message. Direction on their next move.

'Send the Kyuubi back to Konoha. Find some excuse. We need to tighten our hold on him, and draw him away from Sarutobi.'

So, he would. He channeled a small amount of his chakra into the paper, which burst into flames.

The cheers of the men surrounded him, the ninja looking at him in open admiration. Yes. The Uchiha were truly meant to lead.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I hadn't meant to type anymore for a couple of days, but people were reviewing, so I decided to. _(Hint, Hint)_ Sorry for the shortness of the chapter, relative to the other two, but it was a spur of the moment thing. I plan to start a weekly cycle, I only have enough time to churn these out right now because my school is in the middle of testing, tests that seniors don't have to take and I have little to no Homework. Once I get into my stride, the chapters should be longer. Anyways, hope you liked the chapter. Looking forward to your responses. **R&R!**


	4. Return of the Fox

"A lie told often enough becomes the truth."  
-Vladimir Lenin

* * *

"You're the Kyuubi!"

Naruto sighed. He was on his way to Fugaku's command tent when he was confronted with a wave of baby-faced Gennin. He looked them over. Fresh, clean clothes? Check. Kunai in pristine condition? Check. Lack of stubble? Check. Invincible look in the eye, the one that said that they fought on the side of good, the look that showed their insatiable lust to prove themselves as defenders of justice, as heaven's will come to smite those who dared to stand in their way? Check. Fuck.

Little brats wouldn't last five seconds on the battlefield.

Naruto grimaced. And even if they did they'd turn into sad miserable bastards like him. He cleared his throat.

"What do you want, kid?" Probably an autograph. Or an overused, clichéd phrase about the justice of their cause. Once, one small blushing little kunouchi had offered him her virginity. He had been drinking the pigswill that the cook's passed off as sake and ended up spraying himself, and the poor girl, with it in surprise. That Jackass Neji had laughed about it for months.

The gennin blushed. He procured a small piece of paper from one of his pockets, but seemed to fumble for the words.

Naruto mentally swore. He grabbed it and hastily scrawled something that might pass for his name if the reader in question was drunk, blind, or incredibly dull.

The boy brightened considerably. "Thank's, Kyuubi!" Well, apparently the kid wasn't drunk or blind.

"No problem." He pushed past the nameless young nin, and made his way towards the command tent.

The brat was obviously incredibly dull is he chosen to come to this shit-hole.

* * *

Fugaku looked tired. Bags lined his precious, highly acclaimed eyes and the usually faint wrinkles that lined his face stood out to a much greater degree. His usually pristine wardrobe looked like it had been worn for a week and a few strands of hair stood out in odd places.

Naruto grimaced as he entered the tent. The man was an arrogant asshole, but at least he was a hard worker.

Fugaku glanced up as he approached. Naruto dodged the various aides that scurried around the tent and stood at attention before the large map Fugaku had previously been examining. The commander gestured angrily at the table.

"The damn Kumo nins have launched a renewed assault against our advance forces to the east and north of us." Fugaku stated, unhappily.

Naruto frowned. "Do you want to dispatch me to the front?"

Fugaku shook his head. "No. I have Sasuke monitoring our efforts to the east." Concern momentarily flashed across his face, but was gone so quickly Naruto doubted that he saw it in the first place. "Neji is in the north. No, what I called you in for involves your last report."

"What aspects of it, sir?" Naruto swallowed, suddenly nervous. "My fight with the Nibi?"

"Partially. What most concerns me is what you, and Neji, wrote about the slowness of your demonic chakra, the delay before you started healing."

Relief flooded him. "I believe it to be because of the Nibi's own chakra interfering, the Kyuubi's chakra was forced to combat it before the healing of my wound could commence." Even a week after the battle, Naruto had a jagged scar running down the left side of his face. He secretly feared that it was permanent.

Fugaku glanced at a paper lying on the table. "Yes, you said that in your report. One of our army medical ninjas suggested that this is the first time you've had such a complex organ completely destroyed, and the delay was due to having to rebuild your eye from scratch. Nonetheless, I've decided to send you back to Konoha for testing. As magical as your healing ability is, Kyuubi, we can't have our trump card unable to draw its demonic chakra at a critical moment. You'll be gone for two weeks."

"The army won't need me?"

The familiar look of contempt fixed itself on Fugaku's face. Naruto was wondering when the tired old man look would give way to the usual arrogant Uchiha expression. "We'll be fine, Kyuubi. You aren't so powerful, nor we so weak, that we need you to hold our hands every time we take a step. Not that that would assure us safety."

"I apologize sir. I did not mean to suggest that you were incapable in any way."

Fugaku glared. "Pack your things. You leave immediately."

Naruto saluted and exited the tent.

* * *

The convoy moved incredibly slow. Naruto cursed under his breath. He could have been in Konoha by now, save that Fugaku's orders restricted him to the medical convoy that travelled home each week. The wagons were filled with nins too hurt for an immediate return to service and, in the case of the black ones in the back, corpses.

Naruto was fortunate enough that one of the medical ninja's assigned to monitor the wounded, Daichi, allowed him to sleep in the lead wagon during his shift. Naruto slept in the warm, padded wagon for five hours that otherwise he would have spent sleeping on the ground each night. Naruto had been camped by Daichi's wagon the first night when the lanky mednin stepped outside, and immediately requested Naruto sleep where it was warm, namely inside the wagon. All the man had said was "Anything for the Kyuubi."

As much as Naruto disliked taking advantage of his "name", the cold nights quickly convinced him that it was fine to take an exception, this once.

Besides, they'd be Konoha the next day, and none of it would matter.

* * *

Everyone was staring at him. The moment he stepped past the massive wall that ringed Konoha, everyone stared at him, civilians and ninja alike.

For a moment, there was silence. Then one long, massive cheer erupted from the people around him. The familiar shout of "Kyuubi!" filled the air and a crowd formed around him, each individual clamoring for his attention. He closed his eyes and listened to the swell of voices around him. Four years ago, he would've enjoyed this affection. He opened his eyes again. One old woman seemed to actually be crying tears of joy at his appearance.

But for every ten people screaming their admiration for him, one glared in suspicion and turned away. For every group of roaring civilians, one individual offered him angry silence.

Naruto sighed. The people of Konoha either loved the Kyuubi or hated it.

Naruto offered only a twisted grin, his scar making his face look fearsome and hellish. He bet that half of the people cheering for him didn't know of a man name Uzumaki Naruto.

* * *

"You will meet with the Hokage and Danzo-sama tomorrow." The raven-masked Anbu stated in a low monotone. "Then you will report to the Hospital for testing. The rest of tonight is time you can use as you wish."

Naruto nodded at the man, who left immediately. The Anbu were always amazingly emotionless, especially since the war had started. Naruto wondered if Danzo's motion to increase the allotted number of Anbu at one time last year had anything to do with it. Previously, the number of Black-ops ninjas had been kept to a small, elite minimum, but following the passing of Danzo's legislature, many ninja's had suddenly applied for the corps. They all seemed to be cast of the same, emotionless mold. Naruto shrugged. It didn't concern him.

He had been considering heading to bed early, but changed paths to a local bar he knew.

* * *

It was late that night when he finally stumbled into his apartment, a lithe blond kunoichi on his arm. Not for the first time, he was glad for his healing ability. Not a moment earlier he would have been too inebriated to open his door, a bad move when bringing a girl home. Upon entry to his residence, he swept his the giggling girl up into his arms and moved back into his room.

Naruto hoped that Sarutobi didn't summon him until late the next afternoon. It had been a long time and he didn't plan on sleeping much.

* * *

**Author's note:** Geez. I know I promised longer chapters, and I know that you all deserve them but I got crazy sick on Thursday. I was in bed all Friday, Saturday, and most of Sunday.

Funny how the little homework turned into a major pain in the ass when you lack the time to finish it. What should have been a little work over three days turned into a lot of work, today. Wrote this one the moment I was done. Next one'll probably take me a couple of days, but it'll be longer.

Anyways, enough of my complaining. Hope you like the chapter Please review. Everyone's reviews cheered me up when I was sick, so thank you all very much. Looking forward to the next batch. **R&R!**


	5. Youth

"He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future."  
-Adolf Hitler

* * *

The sun setting over the streets of Konoha was one of the most beautiful things Naruto had ever seen. He turned to the Hokage. "This is amazing old man!"

A thin, grandfatherly smile graced Sarutobi's face. "I thought you might like it."

The two were sitting on top of the Hokage monument, specifically on top of the Yondaime's head. Naruto frowned. "Where are the fireworks?"

The Hokage turned to the five-year old Jinchuuriki, smiling. "Don't be so impatient. It's not yet night."

Naruto pouted. He drummed his fingers against the Yondaime's head. He started blowing air through his pursed lips. Sarutobi suppressed a chuckle.

When Naruto started beating his feet to some imaginary march, the Hokage finally spoke up. "How was playing with Hinata and Neji?"

Naruto's grin threatened to break his face in two "Great! We played Ninjas!" The blond boy frowned in thought. "Well, Hinata was a princess. But Neji and me had to rescue her!"

Sarutobi smiled again. "Oh? How did that go?"

Naruto jumped up excitedly. "Well Neji got taken out by a trap. He fell into a bottomless pit! With spikes on the bottom! And Alligators!" He thrust his arm into the air, as if to punctuate his point. "But I avoided it!"

Sarutobi laughed paternally. "Did you rescue Hinata?"

"First I had to beat Neji, who didn't really fall into the trap, but was really the bad guy!" Naruto frowned. "He tried to trick me, but Hinata warned me" His grin came back full force.

"How dastardly of him" Sarutobi said with mock seriousness.

"But I beat him! And Hinata and I ran off and lived happily ever after!" Naruto paused for a second. "Ne, Old man. What does "Mair-read" mean?"

"Married?" Sarutobi asked.

"Yeah! Hinata said that because I rescued her, we had to get mair-read and live happily ever after." Naruto smiled, glad that Sarutobi understood. "I said ok, and we ran off and got mair-read under a tree by Neji."

"I thought Neji was the bad guy." Sarutobi said, attempting to divert the conversation.

"Nope! He was a secret good-guy! He was only pretending to be bad!" Naruto said, knowingly.

"Ah." Sarutobi nodded. "Oh, look Naruto, the fireworks are about to start."

Sure enough, the sky had darkened while they had been talking and the rooftop of the Hokage tower was packed with men moving large packages around.

When the first fireworks burst their way into the heavens, Naruto hugged the Hokage tightly. "Thanks for taking me up here, Old man."

Sarutobi said nothing. He only smiled and hugged the boy back.

* * *

It was noon when Naruto finally excited his apartment, on route for the Hokage tower. He had left breakfast (or, he supposed, lunch) out for the blond girl who was still asleep in his bed. He hadn't expected her to wake up before he left. It was rather hard for normal shinobi to keep up with his stamina. He smirked.

The sixteen year olds arrogant expression fell, however, when he passed by the marble statue of Hinata the village had erected in the main marketplace. The forever twelve year old girl had a flower in one hand and a training kunai in the other. She was dressed in a pretty floral kimono and had an innocent, childlike smile on her face.

As always, there was a legion of flowers at her feet, gifts from the citizens in tribute of her death.

As always, Naruto passed by the statue without looking at it.

* * *

Naruto slammed his hands down onto the Hokage's desk, lips curled in an angry sneer and normally vibrant eyes clouded with rage.

The fourteen year old boy took another breath, before starting to yell again. "It's you who's not listening to me, old man! This war needs to be fought! It needs to be fought by me! I'm the Kyuubi! The prot-"

"Your name is Uzumaki Naruto." Sarutobi interrupted him.

"What?"

"Your name is Uzumaki Naruto. Never refer to yourself as the Kyuubi again." Sarutobi's glare, which previously had been hot with anger, had now turned ice cold.

Naruto continued unabashed. "That's beyond the point, if-"

"And it is the Hokage's right, Uzumaki Naruto, to deploy Ninja's at his discretion. I have decided that you are best suited among the Home guard." Sarutobi removed his pipe from his mouth and set it on the desk with a loud, sharp crack.

Jiraiya, who had up to this point been leaning on the wall behind the Hokage, spoke up. "Kid, you don't want to go out there."

Naruto turned his glare towards his teacher. "That's my decision, Ero-sennin. We can't let the damn Kumo nins get away with this! Look what they did to us! To our village!" His glare turned painful. "Look what they did to Hinata!"

Jiraiya frowned sympathetically. "That's Danzo talking, Kid. You're-"

"I don't care if it's Danzo talking! He's the only one who's making any sense around here!"

The Hokage spoke once more, his tone brooking no argument. "Uzumaki! My decision is final! Get back to your duties!"

Naruto stood, silent for a moment. A myriad of emotions fought for dominance of his face. Anger finally won out. "Hai, Hokage-sama."

He left the room, slamming the door behind him.

It would be two years before they would talk again.

* * *

Danzo's office was, as always, claustrophobically dark. Naruto ignored this, however, in favor for focusing on the one-eyed man sitting before him. Danzo smiled paternally. "And he refused to let you join the frontline?"

"Yeah!" Naruto said angrily. "And I'm the Kyuubi of all things!"

Danzo nodded. "You are." The bandaged elder paused, before sliding a paper across his desk. "While I had hoped Sarutobi would see reason, I knew enough about him that he would refuse to send you to the front. He doesn't seem to be willing to fight this war properly. Did you know that he vetoed my newest bill?"

"The patriot act? But you told me it was necessary for dealing with spies in Konoha!" Naruto frowned angrily. "Why did he refuse it?"

Danzo let out a small, sad sigh. "He believes that current Anbu measures are enough, even though two Kumo ninjas were caught only last week. If there were two, then there were more who got away, with who knows what information."

Naruto scowled. "Why can't he see that we need to deal with Kumo?! No matter what the cost!"

Danzo shook his head mournfully. " I don't know. It is a sad day indeed when even the Kyuubi can see things that the Hokage can't. But enough of that take a look at that paper."

Naruto picked up the document. His eyes widened. "Is this real!?"

Danzo smiled. "Of course it is. Sarutobi will be forced to move you from the Home Guard, and you will be deployed to the front."

The fourteen year old jumped up, grinning. "Thank you, Sir!"

Danzo's smile might have been a smirk in a different light. "Of course, Kyuubi."

* * *

Jounin, Chuunin and Gennin alike came to a swift attention when Naruto entered the Hokage tower. Naruto rolled his eyes. While he himself was a jounin, his Jinchuuriki status put him just under the Hokage in the eyes of the average nin. he snorted. If only Fugaku thought the same way.

"The Hokage is ready to see you now, Uzumaki-sama." Sarutobi's secretary said. She was new, Naruto realized with a start, or at least she hadn't been there two years ago.

His stomach started boiling with nervous anxiety. While he had talked to Jiraiya often in the last two years (learning from him being rather difficult otherwise), he hadn't seen Sarutobi since he had stormed out.

"I'm such a fucking idiot." He muttered under his breath.

* * *

Nii Yugito, the twenty-nine year old Jinchuuriki had a problem. She was not used to having problems.

The Kumo Jounin was one of the strongest Ninjas of her village. She was the container of the Nibi no Bakeneko, and, along with her fellow Jinchuuriki Kirabi, was the most feared and respected ninja in Kumogakure.

And whatever doors her raw power and reputation couldn't open, her quick analytical mind and princess-like good looks could. She was one of the more attractive kunoichis of Kumo (although she was never courted.) Her male shinobi counterparts were often tongue-tied in her presence.

All in all, although she wasn't close to anyone, Yugito rarely ran into difficulty doing what she wanted. (That what she wanted was always what the Raikage wanted never crossed her mind.)

What she wanted right now was to find the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, tear his head off, and-

"Check it out, Yo! A Kitten wrapped in bandages, The Bull will remember this for a-ges!"

Oh. Fuck. It. All. Kirabi had decided to make an appearance. If she wasn't bed-ridden due to the blow the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki had dealt her, she would have fled. As it was, she had circular scars around her belly-button and an intense pain that shot through her whenever she moved. The med-nins had told her that even with the Nibi, wounds dealt by demonic chakra were difficult to heal. She had refrained from telling them that she already knew that. Training with Kirabi had dealt more than one blow with Youkai chakra, and they always healed slower than normal injuries.

The Hachibi Jinchuuriki continued his god-awful rapping. Yugito zoned it out, and decided to imagine the Kyuubi-Jinchuuriki beaten up (She wouldn't kill him. No, No, No, first she would make him listen to Kirabi for hours on end.)

Kirabi launched into another lurid verse. Yugito groaned.

* * *

Sarutobi looked old. Older than Naruto had ever seen him. His elderly, wise face looked much more worn than he had ever seen it. His hairline had receded a few inches and bags had formed under his eyes. He looked tired.

His voice, however, was iron-clad. "Good evening, Uzumaki-san." He didn't smile.

Naruto offered a sheepish grin, and bowed. "Hello, Hokage-sama."

"Please sit down."

"Thank you." Naruto moved to sit.

Silence reigned in the Hokage's office.

Naruto swallowed. Sarutobi fiddled with his pipe.

Naruto looked at the ceiling. Fuck it. He spoke up, voice wavering slightly. "I was wrong." Sarutobi looked up sharply.

"What?"

"In my perception of War and in the way I acted." Naruto said, gravely.

"Do you mean how you went to my strongest political enemy in order to undermine my authority, or do you mean how you slammed the door when you last left my office?"

Naruto swallowed again. "Both. I was immature and foolish."

Sarutobi frowned. "Yes. You were."

"I apologize." Naruto said, looking Sarutobi in the eye.

"I do too."

"What?" Naruto blurted, startled.

"I was wrong for losing my temper, and for assigning you a gennin team in punishment."

Naruto shuffled his feet awkwardly. "Yeah, I know what you mean. I- what do you mean, Gennin team?"

Konohamaru chose this moment to walk into the room, Moegi and Udon in tow. Sarutobi smiled at him.

"Oh screw me sideways and call me a daisy." Naruto said into his hands.

* * *

Uchiha Itachi sat down on the stone bench. Naruto, Neji, and Kiba sat in the grass before him.

He looked at the three Gennin with a frown. "Each of you has weakness, as you have strengths. Each of you are flawed, imperfect Shinobi. It is my job, as your Jounin instructor to help you iron out those flaws to become true ninja of Konoha. You will work together as a team-"

* * *

"and serve the village with all your might. As long as you are under me care, "Naruto said to the gennin on the ground in front of him "you will be a family. A group of individuals bound together to serve the greater good of the Village."

* * *

Itachi continued "As long as you three are together, you will use everything you have to safeguard the village." He gestured out towards the marketplace where the citizens were shopping. "It is by your blood, and guts, and tears that they live in peace."

* * *

Naruto looked on them. "And, if need be, you will die to protect that peace. For in the shelter of our martial might, they, at least, can find happiness. You have chosen a hard road, but know that together we will protect our citizens and enable them to live in happiness."

'Just as we tried to do for Hinata.' Naruto thought, eying the wide-eyed gennin before him.

* * *

'Just like enemy shinobi try to do for their citizens' Itachi thought, eying the wide-eyed gennin in front of him. "Any questions?"

"When can we start?" Naruto said loudly. The twelve-year old grinned. "Hinata's supposed to meet us at Ichiraku's to celebrate our graduation. It's easy street from here on in, right?"

Itachi left him tied to a tree when everyone else went home.

Hinata and Neji arrived an hour later to untie him. They spent the rest of that night talking.

The next night the kidnapping attempt occurred.

**

* * *

Author's note:** My English teacher decided to blitzkrieg'd us with a last minute research project. I love her to death, but I wanted to light her on fire when she announced it.

Aw, it wasn't so bad. Finished it today. But it cut into my typing time.

I have finals ramping up now, so it might be a little bit. Though I'll probably put out a couple of smaller chapters. This is what I had typed up on Thursday, when I got the project. I just decided to post it.

And hope nobodies' feathers are ruffled by my usage of The patriot act. I just hate the damn thing so much. Yay government?

Uggh. The news just came on. First thing up is a murder suicide of a Husband killing his wife, and then himself. That's incredibly depressing. If you're religious, pray for the three orphans, neh? I'm not, but I wish them the best.

Next chapter, or the one after that should have some Naru/Yugi interaction. The age difference is going to be a pain. Needless to say, It'll be awhile before they're together.

Anyways, hope you all are having a good weekend. **R&R!**


	6. Intentions

"On the whole human beings want to be good, but not too good, and not quite all the time."  
-George Orwell

* * *

The day was sunny, and blue, and a slight breeze carried the moans of the dead and dying for miles. Naruto spasmed as the kunai ripped through his throat, leaving his neck in a bloody ruin and spraying his blood over the wet ground.

The enemy ninja stood over him, reaching down and stabbing him repeatedly until the grass beneath him ran red with his blood.

Naruto's eye was gouged out, a gaping crimson wound tearing down his face. He tried to reach up to his Ninja pouch.

But the enemy was kneeling on his chest, ramming one kunai after another into him.

With one last wheezing breath, Naruto died.

* * *

Uzumaki Naruto jerked awake, his breathing erratic. He closed his eyes, then opened them again. He stared at the cracked and pitted ceiling of his apartment.

"Are you alright, Kyuubi-san?" came the soft, melodious voice from beside him. He wrenched his gaze from the ruined plaster above him and towards the dark-haired kunoichi lying besides him. She had dark, purple-tinted hair and large pale light-blue eyes. In the dark, she almost looked like a ghost...

"I'm fine" He scoured his mind for her name, but realized he had forgotten it. He mentally shrugged. She would be out of his life in the morning, anyways. "Just a nightmare."

She raised a delicate, princess-like eyebrow. "What could the Kyuubi possibly be afraid of?"

He hid his grimace with an overbearingly fake grin. "Why, a world empty of beauties like yourself, of course."

She giggled. Naruto wrapped an arm around her. "You know, When I was younger I used to pretend that those cracks in the ceiling were animals?"

She glanced up dubiously. "Animals?"

He smirked. "Yeah!" He pointed to a large circular crevice "See? An elephant. And look, He's fighting a rhino!"

She laughed again. "I think you're just playing around with me."

He was, but he really didn't care. She would never know any better. "I'm not!" Naruto draped his other arm over her again, and drew her closer to him. "If you want me to play around with you, however, I'm perfectly willing." They kissed.

So, Naruto thought to himself, Animals on the ceiling. What would he say next time? That the peeling paint looked like famous shinobi? Perhaps that the squeaky, tarnished floorboards had the very image of Kami in them?

But then the kunoichi did something with her tongue that had him thinking much more pleasant thoughts for a long while.

* * *

"Do you know what your weakness is, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto had his eyes closed. He was busy embracing the warm smell of hot Ichiraku ramen and did not give thought to Itachi's question right away. The worn, polished wood of the counter top was rough underneath his palm and a small bit of sweat ran down his back.

The thirteen year old opened his eyes and turned to look at his sensei. Itachi wasn't facing the counter top but was instead idly watching people pass by the warm, well-light stand. Snowflakes flitted delicately through the air and small glistening droplets of water dangled from the stand's opening, ice melted by the heat Teuchi somehow managed to imbue his stand with.

Naruto stared at one of the droplets for a moment before answering. "Even if I knew my greatest weakness, Sensei, I'd be a fool to voice it aloud."

A small smile twitched onto Itachi's face, a slight curvature of his lips that was gone as quickly as it arrived. "You are a fool anyways, Naruto-kun, albeit an honest one. Which is better than any other sort, I suppose." Their (Naruto's) ramen arrived.

The steam rising from the warm brown bowl brushed Naruto's cheek much like a lover would, before turning to the greater heavens and battling the cold night air for dominance of the sky. He cupped his frost fingers around the curved dish, willing the ramen's heat into them. Itachi went back to watching the citizens walk past them, fighting their way through the snow.

Naruto smirked. "You know, Sensei, if I ever marry, it'll have to be a girl with brown eyes."

Itachi raised one eyebrow. "Oh?"

Naruto gestured at his bowl. "Brown reminds me of home. It's a soul-soothing color."

"It reminds you of ramen."

Naruto sent a mock glare shooting towards Itachi "That too."

A smooth, feminine voice came wafting from behind the counter. "Does that mean I'm still in the running, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto turned and looked at the warm, light brown eyes of Ichiraku Ayame (sparing a glance for her ample cleavage.) He blushed. "Don't joke like that, Ayame-chan!"

The waitress/cook rolled her eyes. She turned towards Itachi. "And now he's taking it back." The Seventeen year old shook her head at Naruto. "You'll never get the girls by being a hypocrite, Naruto."

Naruto busied himself by finishing his bowl of ramen, immediately reaching over for the still-warm brown bowl that sat untouched before Itachi. The voluptuous young woman went back to the stove behind her.

After Naruto finished his second bowl, He and Itachi stood up and left the stand. A comfortable silence wrapped itself around them, broken only by the light crunch of ice beneath their feet.

"Remember, Naruto-kun, you have to eat the vegetables I brought you."

Naruto rolled his eyes. Itachi only let him eat ramen if he would accept eating "healthy" food for the rest of the week. Naruto snorted. Ramen made him happy, and what could be healthier than being happy? Beside, Vegetables rotted too quickly. He could store Ramen for months.

He ran his tongue over his teeth before responded. "Yeah, Yeah."

Itachi looked at him. "You still haven't answered my question."

Naruto looked back. "Then maybe I don't know it."

They reached Naruto's apartment. Snow had piled up onto the stairs, promising a difficult climb.

Student and Sensei stood in the gathered darkness, snowflakes floating through the air around him. Every now and again, an invisible tendril of wind would brush by, sending the flakes dancing in a dizzying array of acrobatic grace.

Itachi finally spoke. "You sell your heart too cheaply."

"What?"

"You pledge yourself too easily. You grow attached too quickly."

Naruto frowned. "Is this about Danzo's speech last week? Because I-"

Itachi interrupted him, his words much more forceful than usual. "You keep selling your heart so hastily and it will come back to bite you. You're a Ninja, Naruto. Not a whore."

Konohamaru launched himself through the air, hitting Udon with a lightning-fast kick. The bespectacled boy dissolved into mist, however, and Konohamaru found himself surrounded by a dense fog. He ran through the mist, trying to find an exit when a root pried itself from the ground in front of him and wrapped itself around him. "Genjutsu?!" He swore loudly.

"Indeed" Came a voice from behind him. The illusion lifted to reveal his fellow gennin standing behind him, holding a kunai to his throat and trademark droplet of snot hanging from his nose.

Naruto and Moegi clapped from the sidelines. Naruto got up and walked towards the two boys, grinning. "Good job, the both of you. I'm very impressed." He was, too. The three gennin had abilities far surpassing their average counterparts, if only in the basics. Naruto was grateful towards Ebisu. The man had obviously pounded the basics into his students before he sent to the Iwa front. Ebisu was unlucky that the Iwa nins had ambushed the caravan he had been traveling with and had his left leg below the knee removed by an Iwa special jounin. He had killed his attacker, however, and now worked as an administrator in the Hokage's office.

Naruto grinned again. He had a strong base with which to build on. "You three have impressed me enough that I'll offer you a reward. Next training session, I'll teach you a Jutsu of your choice." The gennin cheered. "First, let's go to Ichiraku's, neh?"

* * *

Uchiha Sasuke broke out in a nervous sweat. He glanced around his tent. A candle on the ground sent flickering shadows dancing on the greenish canvas.

He had just ordered an attack on a nearby Kumo town, and was afraid he might lose. Kirabi, the Hachibi, was rumored to be in the area, and Sasuke feared for his army if they should cross paths. It was, after all, the mandate of the Uchiha to guide and watch over those below them, much like a feudal lord guarded his pheasants.

He shook his head. Sometimes, being an Uchiha didn't seem worth it. He was among the best of the Ninja world, his was the bloodline that stood apart from all others. But the responsibilities threatened to choke him to death.

"Sasuke-sama! We're ready to begin!" One of his Lieutenants called out to him.

Sasuke stood up, his usual half-faux arrogant smirk easily slipping onto his face. He strode out onto the grass, among the assembled Ninja. "Let's go, Boys! Show them the might of Konoha!"

The men cheered.

* * *

"Sensei?" Konohamaru spoke up hesitantly.

Naruto looked at them, and then looked again at the Ramen stand they were rapidly approaching. "Yes?"

"What was your first kill like?"

Naruto stopped. He regarded his curious students morbidly. "Why do you want to know?"

Moegi stepped forward. "So we might know what it's like when we kill." She said in a somber voice.

Naruto eyed them.

"It was like hell." He said, simply. He turned and walked to the stand, ducking inside.

"Naruto!" Teuchi cried out, spreading his wrinkled fatherly arms wide. They embraced over the counter.

"It's been too long, Teuchi-san." Naruto said, smiling, for the first time in a long while, with honest joy.

"We were worried about you, Ayame and I." Teuchi warbled.

"Where is Konoha's most beautiful Ramen chef?" Naruto queried.

The atmosphere in the stand turned somber, the polished wood of the counter reflecting light mournfully and the brown bowls cold and empty. "... Masashi's dead, Naruto."

Naruto's eyes widened. Masashi was Ayame's fiancée, deployed on the Kumo front. "How?"

As if he couldn't guess.

"During an assault on some stupid village, He met with the Jinchuuriki of the Hachibi." Teuchi's face looked more aged than usual, his wrinkles more clearly defined than Naruto had ever seen them.

Naruto swore. "I'm sorry, Teuchi. He was a good man." Masashi had been one of the few people to ever call him by his name.

Teuchi nodded gravely. "Would you mind cheering Ayame up? She's in the back. It'd be good for her to see you. I'll feed this lot if you want to take her out." He gestured at Naruto's Gennin, who were standing awkwardly in the doorway.

Naruto nodded. "Sure. Place whatever they eat on my tab." He turned to his team. "Eat what you want, guys. It's on me. Meet at the park at ten tomorrow morning."

He made his way into the back.

* * *

Roshi finished drinking from his canteen, and looked up at his fellow Jinchuuriki. His ally, though he disliked calling the brash container of the Gobi that term, was breathing heavily but still fighting furiously the sand that assaulted him in never ending waves. The Kazekage, Subaku no Gaara, vessel of the Ichibi no Shukaku, stood silently next to Hatake Kakashi, cyclopean commander of the Konoha nins.

Not for the first time, Roshi wished he had followed through with his plans to leave Iwa. The Jinchuuriki of the Yonbi had no real quarrel with the Konoha nins, or the Suna nins, or anybody, really. Except maybe the idiot Jinchuuriki Iwa had made his partner.

He really just wanted to be left alone. What did he care for the petty squabbles of the villages?

"Let them all rot." He muttered to himself.

The Tsuchikage would find offense to that particular notion, but Roshi didn't really care. Or, at least, he wouldn't have if the Tsuchikage hadn't decided to keep extra-special care of his only living relative, a five year old niece. The girl was surrounded by a squad of Anbu at all times- for her protection, of course.

His tall, crimson-armored ally finally stopped bashing at the sand. About time, the fool.

Roshi gathered his chakra and pounded his hands on the ground, instantly liquefying it into molten rock.

* * *

Ayame was a mess. The twenty year old woman/s eyes were red and puffy, and her dress stained. When she saw Naruto standing in the doorway, she let out a mournful gasp. "Naruto?"

He swept her into an embrace. She started crying again. "It's nice to see you again, Ayame-chan."

"Masa's dead, Naruto" she bawled into his chest. His heart panged with sympathy for her.

"It's ok, Ayame-chan. Everything will be ok."

She cried harder. "No it won't, Naruto! Don't say that! Everyone says that!" She grabbed his shirt with her tight, balled up fists. He rubbed her back.

"It's all so pointless. This war. Why did he have to die?" Her voice was muffled by his chest.

They stood silently for a moment. Naruto spoke up hesitantly. "Hey, why don't we go out to dinner? You should get out of the house." She looked up at his with her teary red eyes. "Everybody is worried about you."

She looked away. "Looking like this?" She quivered in his embrace.

"Looking anyway you want, Ayame-chan." Naruto hugged her.

* * *

Yugito was free. Free!

She donned that last of her gear, and positively bounded out of the medical tent. Kumo nins, expecting the usual solemn ice-princess, stared at her in shock. She didn't care. She was free of the stupid medical tests, and Kirabi's stupid "get-well" rapping, and Omoi's frantic worrying, and Karui's argumentative nature, and ...and....

And she should stop acting live a five year old. She was the Jinchuuriki of the Nibi, not some freshly graduated gennin.

She slowed to dignified walk and scowled at the Shinobi who had been staring at her. They all scurried off in a hurry.

* * *

Naruto was in trouble. Fortunately for scared Jinchuuriki, the dense cigarette smoke and the dim lighting of the bar masked any sign of his quandary from the increasingly drunker Ayame.

He hadn't wanted to come to the pub, but when compared to Ichiraku, it had seemed a better choice. Anywhere else and he would have to deal with a gaggle of fans, something Ayame defiantly didn't need. And if they had eaten at Ichiraku's, Teuchi would have been there, and as kind as the man was, he could get a little overbearing at times, something Ayame didn't need either.

Coming to the bar, however, had the unforeseen side effect of a drunken, sobbing Ayame. (He guessed it was also fortunate that this particular crowd was used to drunken sobbing. He actually thought he could see another person crying no-)

"I bought this dress for him, you know." Ayame said tearfully. She was referring to the light colored sundress that she was wearing. It hugged her curves to with a tantalizingly ti-

And that was the alcohol talking. He was out of his element. Usually, when girls cried he could pretend to be the honorable warrior Kyuubi, and say that the war was tearing him from her arms. (Amazing how many girls fell for that. I made him rather sad.) He reached across the rough wooden table and cupped her hands in his.

"It's beautiful, Ayame-chan" Naruto replied.

* * *

"The first time I had sex" Neji said "was right before we deployed. Remember Tenten?"

"That bun-haired brunette?" Naruto said, grinning "I bet _she_ was wild!"

Neji rolled his eyes. The two comrades sat opposite each other in the middle of their army camp, a small fire crackling between them. "We're not all gigolos like you, Naruto"

Naruto stuck out his tongue. Neji continued. "It was rather slow and sweet, actually. She went to the Iwa front the same day we arrived here."

"Well, best of luck to her, then!" Naruto lifted a flask of Sake into the air, before downing it.

"You should cut back on the alcohol, Naruto. It's bad for you."

Naruto waved his arm. "It's fine." He pointed at his stomach. "The bastard here takes care of the side-effects, like the hangover and I recover much faster."

"But you still make stupid decisions when you're drunk. Remember the time in Shiwai?" Neji countered.

Naruto sighed. "Maybe when the damn war is over."

Neji chose not to argue the point. "When was your fist time?"

Naruto stared at the fire, watched the flames dance for a moment before replying. "Remember Ichiraku Ayame?"

"That Ramen chef?"

"Yeah. I took her out the night before we deployed." Naruto glared. "I couldn't find _you_ for some reason."

Neji had the decency to blush, although it wasn't very visible in the firelight.

"We got drunk." (Neji glared at this.) "Shut up. And we ended up spending the night at my place."

Neji sighed. "You're an idiot."

Naruto sighed too. "More like a whore. She met her fiancée right after I left." The sixteen year old drank from his flask.

* * *

"This isn't right, Ayame-chan."

They were on the floor of his living room, clothes disarrayed. She was straddling his waist, the side effect of her tackling him when he had her back turned.

"It's not right. I need it." She replied, drunkenly.

In his own drunken stupor, Naruto couldn't think of a way to deny her logic... she did need it, after all....

Her kisses tasted like salt and alcohol.

* * *

The day was sunny, and blue, and a slight breeze carried the moans of the dead and dying for miles. Naruto spasmed as the kunai ripped through his throat, leaving his neck in a bloody ruin and spraying his blood over the wet ground.

The enemy ninja stood over him, reaching down and stabbing him repeatedly until the grass beneath him ran red with his blood.

Naruto's eye was gouged out, a gaping crimson wound tearing down his face. He tried to reach up to his Ninja pouch.

But the enemy was kneeling on his chest, ramming one kunai after another into him.

With one last wheezing breath, Naruto died.

* * *

Naruto woke up, swearing. It was early morning, and he was naked.

He glanced sadly at the sleeping form of Ayame besides him.

"Ayame." He said, voice rough and throat sore.

Shy woke up and grimaced when she realized their situation. She got out of his bed, and immediately started putting on her clothes.

When she was at the door to his room, he spoke again.

"Should I come by later?" He didn't know what he meant by that.

Their gazes locked. "I don't think it's a good idea to see each other for a long time, Naruto."

The front door shut with a loud, authoritative thunk. Naruto looked at the peeling paint on the wall.

"Did you know that you can see famous shinobi in the paint peels?" He asked his empty apartment.

* * *

The day was sunny, and blue, and a slight breeze carried the moans of the dead and dying for miles. The Kumo nin spasmed as the kunai ripped through his throat, leaving his neck in a bloody ruin and spraying his blood over everything around him, Naruto included.

He stood over the enemy ninja, reached down and stabbed him repeatedly until the grass beneath them ran red with his kumo blood.

Naruto reached up and gouged out the man's left eye, a gaping crimson wound replacing his once pristine face. The man tried to reach up to his Ninja pouch.

But Naruto kneeled on his chest and rammed one kunai after another into him.

With one last wheezing breath the Kumo Ninja died. Naruto took one look at his first kill, looked at the Kumo Hitai-ite, and vomited onto the wet, bloody grass.

* * *

**Author's Note**: Hey everyone. Another chapter bites the dust. Hope you all liked it.

It was annoying for me, because I wrote most of it before finding the quote, which I usually do before writing. Not sure if it fits, but I liked it, so I went with it.

Anyone read the newest chapter?

**(SPOLIER ALERT! DEAR BLOODY GOD IN HEAVEN, SPOILERS FOLLOW!)**

When I read the part about Danzo becoming Rokudaime Hokage, I spit over myself. (Seriously, I was drinking water at the time.) After a severe coughing fit, I reread it several times to make sure I wasn't hallucinating.

I'm reserving judgment. Danzo is a total bastard, but I'm looking forward to the next chapter to see what happens next. (Besides, Danzo is a really fun character to write. Conniving weasel that he is.) Konoha's in for some rough times.

The promised Yugi/Naru interaction is delayed a chapter. But, as I'm in the middle of my Finals prep, it might be a bit until the next one.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please **R&R** (Your reviews are like crack for me.)

(Oh, and I just watched Les Misérables, and as much as Valjean rocks, I have to say my favorite character is Javert. I just picked up the book. I dare not read it, though. If I do, I won't study for my finals. ) **R&R**


	7. Deal

"If everyone is thinking alike then somebody isn't thinking."

_-George Patton_

_

* * *

_

By the time Naruto saw sunshine again, he had started to doubt it existed. A week of tramping through dense forest, branches clinging at every turn. A week of watching where he stepped, so that a slide of leaves and rocks and branches didn't give away their position. A week of a drizzling mist, drowning everything in its clammy white embrace.

Itachi-sensei refused to let them use chakra to travel faster. They didn't know if the enemy had any chakra sensing nins, and didn't want to risk exposure so early in their mission.

Thus a week of miserable travel that should have taken one damn day.

Naruto peered upwards. At least the sun was coming out and the mist was starting to dissipate. They would be more visible, but they would also be a lot less wet.

Kiba sidled up beside him. He had an idiotic grin on his face. He started signaling furiously with the signs Itachi had made them learn.

'Hey Naruto' Kiba was signing, 'What's the difference between Mist and Cloud?'

Naruto eyed the last few tendrils of moisture that still clung to morning air. 'What?' He signaled back.

Kiba's grin stretched, unbelievably, wider. 'One's trying to kill us and the other has its head up its own ass trying to kill itself!' He shook with silent laughter.

Neji, who must have been watching with his Byakugan, looked back and rolled his eyes.

Naruto offered a watery grin. Kiba's jokes were always awful, but at least they broke the tension. He relaxed a little bit.

Then all hell broke loose.

* * *

The scuffle between some of Danzo's pro-war Gennin and some of their more peace-minded counterparts late one night ended quickly. The reason was that, after a pink-haired girl named Sakura cast a clever genjutsu on one of Danzo's boys, a few of the old councilman's trainees had gone to retrieve their ace in the hole: the Kyuubi

The bar door slammed open, a blast of winter air blowing into the poorly lit establishment, and heads everywhere had jerked up as the Kyuubi strode imperiously into the bar. The thirteen year old Jinchuuriki slowly surveyed the scene that had unfolded before him, taking notice of the glass that littered the ground and the cuts that covered the (he grimaced in disgust) so-called ninja that were splayed around him. One of the stools was lying on its side on the counter, on fire.

The Kyuubi rolled his eyes and stepped forward. Danzo's trainees immediately jumped up in salute, forming a line to one side of him. The other nins were less disciplined, gathering in a rag-tag bundle of bruises and glares on the other side of the room.

The Jinchuuriki glanced over the room again before addressing the trainee nearest to him. "What happened?"

Before the boy could respond, some light-haired girl yelled at them from across the room. "They started it." Others in her group shouted their agreement.

The Kyuubi's glare silenced them. He looked back towards the trainee. The boy swallowed and immediately began his report.

"Uh, sir, they were saying disparaging remarks about our war effort and councilman Danzo. They were spreading rumors and malcontent among the rank and file." He looked into the blonde Jinchuuriki's eyes hesitantly. The slightest hint of a whine entered his voice. "They were insulting us, sir! They-"

The Kyuubi stalked away from him. The trainees all let out small sighs of relief. Their opponents, on the other hand, tensed as the jinchuuriki swept towards them.

"What happened?"

The blond girl looked like she was about to start squawking again, but her pink haired friend started first. "My teammate and I were just discussing our views on Konoha's current foreign policies with our comrades in a secure location, as is allowed by the Shinobi code of conduct rule Thirty-"

"Seven, section four. Discussing the prevention of information passing to those not classified to hear it." The Kyuubi finished for her. He was secretly glad that Danzo had him memorize the code. Finishing the sentence of know-it-all was the best way to get them to shut the hell up. He looked around the ruined tavern once more. It was almost amazing that it wasn't damaged any further, if you didn't take the wards placed around it and the rather weak jutsu that filled the average Gennin's repertoire into account. "What is your name, miss?"

"Haruno Sakura" The Gennin replied. The Kyuubi realized, with an unpleasant start, that they had been in the same gennin class. He guessed that things really could change in a short time.

The Jinchuuriki walked back over to the trainee he was talking to before. "Apologize to Haruno-san."

The boy's face turned red. "What did you say?"

"Apologize to Haruno-san and her companions. This is a secure location, and your actions have violated the Code of Shinobi conduct." The group of gennin arrayed on the opposite side of the room burst into frenzied murmurs.

For an instant, the boy looked like he was going to disobey. Then he stomped over to Sakura and muttered a low apology. His companions, prompted by a look from the Kyuubi, did the same.

Sakura looked at the trainee with a slight blush adorning her face. "I forgive you, Sasuke-kun."

The Kyuubi mentally rolled his eyes. Fangirls. He gestured to the trainees and they started filing out the door. Sakura's blond friend pushed herself from their group and confronted the Jinchuuriki. "That's it?"

The Kyuubi slowly turned around. "I beg your pardon, miss...?"

"Yamanaka. Your stupid thugs come into this bar, and start roughing people up for no damn reason, and you want to let it all go with a fucking apology?" She poked the Kyuubi's chest. "You're not in charge here! You're just some low-ass punk on the Home Guard! You're too much of a coward to fight in the actual war! You're-"

She was cut off as the Kyuubi's fist collided with her stomach. "I beg your pardon, Yamanaka-san. But, judging by the broken windows and bashed in door, this location is no longer secure, and information regarding the assignments of Shinobi is classified." The girl was too busy gagging on the floor to object.

The Kyuubi nodded at the rest of the gennin, who were looking at him with wide-eyed stares, and walked out of the bar. Glass crunched beneath his feet.

* * *

The Kunoichi of Konoha were well known to be as beautiful as they were strong (if not vice versa.) This mostly came about due to the well publicized fantasies of one man, a novelist of sorts, who was famous, strong, gallant and-

"Really, Ero-sennin, do you have to go peeking every single time you're here?"

-and who had an annoying Jinchuuriki as a student. Jiraiya looked up from where he was crouching. "It's research, brat, and it's incredibly important. And stop calling me that."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Well, can you at least refrain while I'm here training my students? Your giggling is rather distracting."

Jiraiya looked over. Three young gennin were standing nearby, all looking rather like they had been slowly boiled. "Chakra control?"

Naruto waved at his students, who all cursed and went back to the scalding pool of water. He grunted. "Yeah. Ebisu hadn't run them through this one yet. I thought it was only fitting."

Jiraiya grinned. "Ah yes. They great pleasure of growing older and taking students: You get to inflict the hellish training you had to go through on them."

Naruto glared at the man, suddenly suspicious. "I guess so."

Jiraiya clapped the scarred blond on his back. "At least you haven't had to go through sage training yet. That's the worst."

"Sage training?"

The Toad-sage shook his head. "You'll learn about it later. Besides, your students look like they're almost finished." He gestured again towards the gennin. Moegi was standing calmly on the water, glaring at them. Udon was riding the water slightly hesitantly, with a look of great concentration on his face. Konohamaru was constantly sinking up to his knees, and shooting back out.

Naruto snorted and pulled out a bag of blunt kunai. Jiraiya laughed. "Ah, the greater pleasure of growing older and taking students: Making the hellish training you had to go through even worse."

With that, the man went back to the rough wooden hole he had been peering through. "Kurenai sure has grown." He started giggling.

Naruto shook his head and went back to his over-cooked students. "Good job guys! Ready for something better?"

He held up the training kunai. They all groaned.

* * *

The Root agent known only by the codename 'Sai' knelt on the cold concrete , deep inside Danzo's compound at the far end of (and far underneath) Konoha. The one eyed councilman was seated on a rounded dais before him.

Danzo looked up, bandages clinging tightly to his ruined face, and observed the agent for a moment. When it came, his voice was as rough as usual, like he had been swallowing loose gravel. "Report."

Sai wasted no time, deciding to release the most important piece of information first. "Sir, the Kyuubi has apologized to the Hokage."

The room suddenly filled with tension, something dark and violent filled the air. "How so, and for what?"

"They sat across from each other, and the Kyuubi apologized for his actions. Later, after the Hokage assigned the Kyuubi a gennin team, the Fox spoke to greater length to the Hokage privately. He disclosed much of what you told him."

Danzo, not usually one for emotional displays, pounded his fist against his chair. "This weakens my hand tremendously and gives Sarutobi a trump card in the council. The Demon has no idea what political power it wields."

The bandaged elder paused, staring deeply into space. His voice came quietly, as if he was talking to himself. "Sarutobi will start to unravel the measures I've put into place. He'll have the threat of the Kyuubi on his side, even if he never directly uses it. The damn fox has weakened this village. Sarutobi will trick the people of Konoha into ending this war."

He fixed Sai with a one-eyed stare. "We can't let that happen. You are dismissed. Keep an eye on the Kyuubi."

Sai nodded his head once, and then vanished. Danzo remained alone for a moment, glare boring into the concrete wall, before shaking his head and moving out of the room and down the hall. He would have to revisit his guest.

When he arrived at the man's...if you could call it a man.... room, the stench of rotting plant and flesh assaulted him. Grimacing, he stepped inside and over the half-eaten body of an Iwa prisoner. The Nin wouldn't be missed.

His guest was in the farthest, darkest corner of the room. Danzo paused, the fetid air swirling around him, and made sure he had his guest's complete attention.

"I have decided to accept your offer." Danzo's words seemed to be swallowed whole by the dank atmosphere that covered him, and his guest took a moment to think before responding.

"Excellent" Zetsu of the Akatsuki replied. "**Our master will be most pleased. This is what you must do.**"

Danzo stood at rapt attention, as the plant-thing laid out its plan.

* * *

"A mission?" Nii Yugito "I was under the impression that you wanted me to do a month's worth of rehabilitation before you sent me out again." Her face was, as usual, a cold, emotionless mask."

"And just yesterday, you informed me that your injury had healed, save for the scars." The Raikage said, frowning. "Are you unfit to fulfill your duty?"

Yugito shook her head. "No, sir, I just-"

"Then you will be fine. It is a small supply convoy the Konoha nin are trying to slip through Nishisawa valley, in the peninsula to the west." He held up a missive. "Our friends in Iwa sent this by bird, a few days ago. They spotted it, but were unable to confront it."

* * *

"Once there, the Kumo nins plan to rendezvous with their forces in a prolonged assault based from ruins of the port city of Taikumo. Unless dealt with, they will have a supply depot that will be too far away for Fugaku to attack, yet close enough to ship supplies. Also, it could serve as fall back point in the event Kumo is taken." Danzo said to the Hokage and Naruto. "That is why I think we should send the Kyuubi there. He has recovered, save for the scar on his eye, and will be able to remove the issue before it develops into a long term problem."

* * *

"I would send troops with you" The Raikage said "Except that the war has made any qualified ninjas busy at other fronts. Bee is currently harassing Fugaku's son's force to the south, while our main army grapples with Fugaku."

Yugito nodded. "If it is your will, sir, it shall be done."

The Raikage's brawny face broke into a smile. "Good. We can't allow Konoha to have a supply depot unassailable by our troops. Head to Nishisawa valley, and destroy them."

The blond Jinchuuriki left the room. The Raikage lifted his muscular body from his chair, and marched down to an adjacent room. "Satisfied?"

"Very." Sasori said. "You have made my organization very happy."

The Raikage grinned. "She's too headstrong for her own good sometimes. And your help against Konoha will be well worth her loss."

* * *

The Hokage finally nodded his consent. Naruto stood from his chair, and bowed to the aged leader. Danzo, he ignored, before stalking from the room.

"Nishisawa valley" He muttered. "Just another place for me to kill a bunch of people." He grimaced at the floor. "As long as people live there will be war and hatred."

He jumped into the air, one last thought echoing in his mind.

'There can be no peace in this cursed land.'

* * *

**Author's Note:** Well, this week has been insanely busy. I've now graduated High school, gone to adventure city (which sucked.), been to Disneyland as an (legal) adult, seen fire dancing, been to my first punk rock concert (Circlejerks. My ears are still ringing), been hypnotized (Which, by the way, is extremely freaky), and found out I'm afraid of heights. While I was rock climbing, unfortunately.

All the friends I'll never see again (probably) and I had a week of fun and work. Woo.

Anyways, I'm busy today and tomorrow, so I decided to just post what I had so far. I've typed a bit all week, but on Wednesday I found half of my work somehow missing. Still have no idea how that happened. Changed the password on my comp, just to be safe(er).

If you're curious, the old one was "I sure hope a giant squid does not eat me"

Also (Shameless self-promotion here) I uploaded an original story on Ff's sister site, FictionPress. Pen name is the same. I'm hungry for reviews for it, since I've received one so far.

Anyways, thanks for putting up with my lateness. My schedule is clearing in a couple of days, so the next chapter will be more prompt. Read and review!

**Edit:**

Geez. I just found out that my scene break lines were removed every time I uploaded. Wierd. I got asked to put them in and I was confused. So I checked my chapter, and they were gone. Sorry, everybody.

**Double Edit:** The other two should be fixed now.

* * *

**Triple Edit (Jan. 22 2010): **Apparently, I really suck. I went to read Traitor to refresh my knowledge (so I don't break the story's reality by accident.) and All the Chapter breaks were messed up. This is the second time I've tried to fix them, and failed. Third time's the charm, right?


	8. Nishisawa

"Although prepared for martyrdom, I preferred that it be postponed."

-Sir Winston Churchill

* * *

Uchiha Sasuke was brooding.

Everything had gone wrong. His forces were trapped deep in Kumo territory, and dwindled more and more every day. It had all been going so well... Cities had fallen, enemies wiped out...

Then they had met the Hachibi. They fled before the Jinchuuriki's might faster than the calm before a coming storm. Men, positions, supplies.... everything was lost to the damn man!

Sasuke shifted in his seat, wincing as the bandages on his arm caught on his canvas chair. His right forearm had been sliced open by the Hachibi, as he was attempting to hold the Jinchuuriki off as his men retreated.

"Fuck it" The Uchiha savagely tore his arm away from the seat, tearing his wrap in two, and stalked outside to see their last mednin. Kabuto had set up shop a few feet away. Of course, the only two tents left to set up were the hospital, if you could call it that, and Sasuke's Hq. Everything else was gone. At least it kept everybody nice and close.

"Really, Sasuke-kun. You ought not rip you bandages so often." Kabuto said, when he saw the state Sasuke's arm was in.

Sasuke spat angrily "What does it matter? We have twenty men left and a supply enough to wrap fifty twice over."

He looked outside, where his troops were splayed over the landscape, trying to sleep.... they had just barely escaped the damn Hachibi...

Kabuto just sighed. "Still, waste not want not, and all that."

The med-nin took out a new roll and started wrapping Sasuke's arm again.

Sasuke winced. "Careful."

A small, calculating smile light Kabuto's face. "My apologies, Sasuke-kun. Perhaps a little something to help with the pain?"

"Fine." Sasuke scowled "Hurry, though. We need to pack up in an hour, to keep ahead of the Hachibi."

He would have preferred to leave sooner, but his men needed rest. He wouldn't leave half of them behind, exhausted and easy pickings for the Kumo nins. Kabuto inserted a small needle into Sasuke's other arm, making him wince again.

"I'm sure we won't have a problem with that." Kabuto said, smirking slightly.

Sasuke wasn't looking, however. He was busy eying the canvas walls of the tent. "Good. If we push, most of us should make it back to the main force."

The Uchiha grimaced as the feeling in his injured limb faded. This wasn't the way everything was supposed to be. He was these men's better, their leader. He was supposed to lead them to glory, not defeat and death. Damn the Jinchuuriki!

The tent flaps in the back pushed aside, allowing a cold wind to waft through the tent, whipping loose cloth and paper through the air. Someone stepped up besides Kabuto.

Sasuke tried to turn around but found he couldn't. His eyes bulged, and his tongue locked in his mouth. All he could produce was a small, muted whine.

"Fighting til the end, Sasuke-kun?" A soft, snaky voice wrapped around his ear, its owner stepping up behind him. "You shouldn't worry. You and your men will all be taken care of."

Screams came from outside. Sasuke trembled with rage. He couldn't move, or even channel chakra.

"You can't use your precious eyes without chakra, Sasuke-kun. But don't worry, I'll be able to use them in a few hours, when the drug wears off." A pale hand rested on his shoulder. What did he mean use his eyes? How could the Sharingan be useful right now?

Sasuke was turned around. He tried to get a look at his captor, but all he could see were his eyes...

His... large... dark.. eyes....

* * *

"Everyone missed you at the funeral, Naruto-kun."

Naruto looked up. He was sitting on top of the Yondaime's head on the Hokage monument. The sky was dark and a small, struggling breeze continually attempted to climb to the top of the cliff. Itachi walked up from behind the blond Jinchuuriki and sat down next to him.

"Hinata didn't." Naruto sighed, his voice softly floating down towards the village. A few hours before, the area beneath the monument had been packed with people. Now it was a ghost town.

Itachi was silent, and joined his student in watching the silent building below. Just visible, far beneath them, was the statue the village elders had constructed of Hinata.

Naruto spoke again. "I can't forgive them, Itachi-sensei."

The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki turned, tears in his eyes, and faced his teacher. "Why did she have to die?"

"Hatred."

"What?" Naruto was confused.

"Shinobi live in a world of Hatred, Naruto-kun... An endless cycle." Itachi looked towards the Uchiha clan compound. "We hate other villages, as they hate us. The ninja life is one filled with loss and hatred."

Naruto frowned. "Why? Why does everyone put up with it?"

"Some say it's for them." Itachi gestured at Konoha at large. "We bear it so they don't have too... But most just pay each other back for each perceived slight... every self-perpetuating debt."

Itachi looked towards his student again. "Some say that the only way to break hatred is to forgive."

Naruto stiffened. He stood up, rock, grass, and gravel grinding under his feet. "Some things you can't forgive." An ugly scowl filled his face.

As he turned to leave, Itachi managed to say one more thing to him. "Then you're just another link in the chain, Naruto-kun. You may come to regret your choice."

Naruto left in disgust. Itachi shook his head, and went back to looking at the village, particularly at his clan's compound.

"Then again" He mused out loud "The choice between forgiveness and hatred is like the choice between village and family."

* * *

Naruto groaned as the sun hit his eyes. He futilely swiped at it, before standing up. He stretched, his spine cracking in a series of sharp pops.

He had stayed the night on the roof of an inn, in some small nameless town. He had realized, too late, that he wasn't carrying money with him. He usually didn't. Whatever he needed when he was with the eastern army was supplied, and the villagers were always keen to offer "the great Kyuubi" whatever he might want.

However, forgetting something like that on a solo mission was stupid. He mentally cursed himself for the thousandth time. Roofs were not the most comfortable of places to sleep.

The blond Jinchuuriki hopped off the inn and down into the nearby forest. If his directions were right, Nisi-whatever valley was only a few hours away.

Some of his colleagues would call his behavior grossly lax and borderline incompetent. He would have replied that he was really in no hurry to massacre a bunch of nins who probably had family back in their village.

Naruto snorted and shook his head. He was thinking much too sentimentally for a shinobi of his caliber.

He vanished into the forest.

* * *

_  
_

'_Hey Naruto_' Kiba was signing, '_What's the difference between Mist and Cloud?_'

Naruto eyed the last few tendrils of moisture that still clung to morning air. '_What?_' He signaled back.

Kiba's grin stretched, unbelievably, wider. '_One's trying to kill us and the other has its head up its own ass trying to kill itself!_' The Fourteen year old shook with silent laughter.

Neji, who must have been watching with his Byakugan, looked back and rolled his eyes.

Naruto offered a watery grin. Kiba's jokes were always awful, but at least they broke the tension. He relaxed a little bit.

Then all Hell broke loose.

Explosions rocked the clearing, sending clods of dirt rocketing towards the heavens like wayward fireworks. The air was filled with the high whistle of airborne needles, flesh and bark alike were shredded by their pointed teeth.

Naruto, always quick on his feet, immediately cast handsigns, producing a wind jutsu that sent the smoke and dirt clumps hurtling away from the Konoha nins. The newly-cleared air immediately revealed three things to him: Itachi-sensei wasn't standing with them, Kiba had taken a needle to his arm (causing Akamaru to whine rather pitifully) and that three men were standing before him.

Three men in black cloaks, with red clouds printed on them.

One, for some reason, vaguely resembled a shark carrying a coffin. He was blue and had pointed teeth. He carried something large and white over his shoulder, and was grinning at Naruto in a way that sent shivers running down the blond Jinchuuriki's spine.

The second looked somewhat like a scorpion, tail included. He had a black cloth mask over his face, which contained two beady black eyes that shone with a strange, unnatural light.

The last was the most normal looking of the trio. Until you looked at his... her?.... hands. The Nin had flowing blond hair, and soft features. His hands each had a jagged-toothed mouth on their palms.

The blond-haired he/she broke the silence first. "Ha! How was that, Sasori-danna! Art is a Bang, yeah!!"

Scorpion-thing spoke up, after sighing loudly. "Art is something eternal, fool. Something that lasts through the ages."

The boy/girl scowled. "No it isn't! Art is in the instant! It's a bang!, yeah!"

Sasori turned slightly, totally ignoring the three gennin before him "Orochimaru understands, Deidara, why you can't is beyond me. Art is ete-"

Shark-man interrupted. "Who gives a damn? We have Konoha nins to shred."

The three gennin stiffened. Instinctively, they slowly backed away. Deidara moved his glare from Sasori to the Shark. "What do you know, yeah? Your art is just mindless slaughter, Kisame! Art is a bang!"

Kisame ignored his gender-confused ally, and lifted the bandaged-thing, stepping towards his frozen prey all the while. "I can shave off his legs, right?"

The Shark-man smirked at Naruto. The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki almost soiled his pants.

* * *

Nii Yugito paused. Perched, as she was, on a small branch high up a tall tree, it was quite the feat. At least, it was until you took her ninja skills into account.

Maybe she would change the course of a river, or raise a huge pillar of earth, or make another moon someday. Just as some light exercise, of course.

The reason she paused on that particular perilous perch was that the so-called supply-caravan was sitting silently in the sullen sunlight.

She shook her head, suddenly annoyed by her own thoughts.

There was only one ninja guarding the gathered crates.  
It was rather strange, but then again, the whole mission had been rather strange.

She began building up her chakra, ready to send the enemy to his untimely demise.

* * *

Naruto was confused. He was standing in the middle of what looked like a supply convoy.

Only there weren't any supplies. Or enemies. Or any sign that anyone other than he had been there.

Except for empty crates.

Naruto shook his head. Something was definably fishy. The Jinchuuriki frowned and decided to start searching the surrounding area.

However, exactly at that moment, Yugito cast her jutsu and a hundred thousand watts of electric energy poured into his body, completely frying him.

* * *

Kiba's voice was weak and leaden with pain. "You have to leave me, Naruto." The Inukuza had taken a series of needles, fired by the Scorpion-thing, to his arm.

Naruto's smile was watery at best. "Shit, man, don't talk like that. You'll be fine."

His teammate managed a frail smirk. "Don't lie to an Inuzuka, Idiot! I can smell it."

Naruto swore. Not for the first time, he craned his head back and looked for any sign of Neji.

Not for the first time, he couldn't find a trace of any member of his team, save the wounded Inuzuka on his back. Continued explosions on the horizon, however, gave him a small sliver of hope.

"Naruto" Kiba's voice was horse "I can't feel my legs."

"They're fine Kiba. You'll be fine." Naruto said, mostly to himself. "Stay quiet for a second... I think I hear something..."

Sasori had followed them throughout their wild flight. Itachi-sensei had arrived just before the shark-man Kisame could shave them into mincemeat.

The three Akatsuki nins had expressed disbelief that he had defeated someone named 'Orochimaru'. Itachi had been panting heavily.

He ordered his team to flee.

Naruto, carrying an increasingly paralyzed Kiba, had been separated from Neji when a large blue sword, if you could call the jagged monstrosity a sword, landed between them with a heavy thump. Neji had been forced to the side, with the large blue nuke-nin in hot pursuit.

He had no clue as to where Akamaru was.

"Naruto?" KIba asked.

"Yeah, man?"

"You won't leave me, right?" Kiba shifted, so that Naruto could see his scared face out of the corner of his eye.

The Fourteen year old Jinchuuriki grimaced. "Of course not, man. Don't even say that shit."

"I want to go home. Everything hurts."

Naruto scanned the surrounding foliage. "You'll go home again. We all will. And we'll all eat some Ramen and laugh about all this crap."

Kiba let out a soft, barking laugh. "All you ever think about is Ramen."

"Yep. That's me, one track mind, man. Let's get you back so that it'll come true."

They were almost there. The main army would be just around that ridge, if the schedule was followed correctly. Then they would be safe. Fugaku would send out nins to help Neji and Itachi-sensei and they would be back at Ichiraku's, eating ramen and laughing, and-

And there was a large expanse of water that hadn't been there before. And there was a large blue, shark-like nuke-nin standing on it.

Naruto turned around, hearing a low rustle. Sasori was standing behind them.

Kiba whimpered, the sharp whine piercing the heavy air.

* * *

Naruto jerked as one of his shadow clones was destroyed with a long range lightning jutsu. He immediately launched himself into cover, which, in the case of lightning jutsu, was composed of shoving himself into a small hollow far away from any large trees.

Unless the enemy was a true master of casting lightning, the bolts would naturally be drawn to whatever large or metal objects that presented the easiest target.

Not so was the case with his own preferred element, Wind. He wouldn't cast any offensive jutsus at the moment, though. Naruto only had the slightest of ideas as to where his enemy was hiding, his foe probably had a good vantage point of the clearing and would be drawn to any large build-up of chakra. Like one intended for a jutsu that may or may not be aimed in the right direction.

Instead, Naruto channeled a small sliver of chakra to his fingertips. If the enemy had any chakra-sensing ninjas, his location was forfeit, but that was a chance he had to take.

A small breeze circled lazily around the clearing.

* * *

Roshi sighed, and tossed his helm, which bore his hitai-ite, onto the ground. He was avoiding his fellow Iwa Jinchuuriki. The Gobi was loud, crass and always making noise, clanking up and down their camp in that damn red armor. The man was eternally marching back and forth among the rank and file, like he was the damn Tsuchikage.

The Yonbi Jinchuuriki sighed again, running an aged hand through his red hair. He was stepping farther and farther away from the Iwa encampment.

A broken twig behind him, and a heavy footstep hit the damp earth. He growled. The damn Gobi was here to pick issues again.

Roshi turned around, ready to finally give the bastard a piece of his mind. He came to face with six orange haired men, in dark, cloud-printed cloaks.

* * *

Yugito slowly steeped away from the tree she had been perched in, and kept moving towards the next piece of cover available to her, a large stack of crates.

The enemy she had intended to destroy had vanished in a cloud of smoke. A clone. She reached the crates and crouched down low.

Neither of them, she realized, wanted to give up whatever element of surprise they could salvage after her flamboyant lightning attack.

Her long, blond hair whipped around her as a light wind blew through it.

* * *

Naruto smiled coldly. "Got'cha"

There was only one enemy, and he was in the general direction Naruto had thought he was.  
The wind had circled around again, and brought his scent to Naruto's nose.

Sure, He wasn't an Inukuza, but having the Kyuubi sealed inside of him did grant him physical abilities far above the norm for a shinobi.

Something was rather strange, though. The enemy's scent was rather familiar.

Then it clicked. His eyes widened, and the scar across his face throbbed with residual pain.

It was the Nibi.

* * *

When Uzumaki Naruto was five, he was kicked out of the Konoha Orphanage due to the caretaker's prejudice, and bureaucratic rules tangled so thoroughly that even the Hokage couldn't cut through them.

When he was six years old, a mob chased him from the festival celebrating the Kyuubi's defeat, and set his apartment on fire. He was inside at the time.

At seven years old, an attempt to get revenge on a produce vendor who had sold him rotten food backfired, sending flying in the air and making him land rather painfully in the Hyuuga clan compound. He had been banned from the marketplace for three months, leaving him to scavenge behind restaurants.

In his eight year of life, a man whose wife and children had perished in the Kyuubi attack chased him from his Academy class in the middle of the day, screaming that he was the Kyuubi, and that he had killed the man's entire family.

Skipping ahead, his best friend, and childhood crush, was kidnapped from her home and mercilessly killed. Naruto was twelve years old.

Of course, all this (save for Hinata's death) could only be considered the highlights of life filled with every kind of abuse that Konoha's citizens could throw at him. All the pain of being driven away from other kids, of being forced to eat rotten food, or scrounge it out of people's trash cans. The verbal sewage that pooled around him wherever he went, pouring from people's mouths as if every time they said something cruel to the poor boy added another few seconds to their pathetic lifespan. The beatings and, above all else, the hateful stares that people shot him when they thought he couldn't see.

Naruto had thought that he knew pain, that he knew what it was like to feel it, and that he, when asked about it, could rest assured that he talked with the greatest possible knowledge of it.

He thought this constantly, and was always confident that he was correct. Then the Jinchuuriki saw his sensei, Itachi, take a large wound to the chest for him. Saw the light dim in Itachi's famed eyes, heard the last sour breath escape the Uchiha's lips, and watched his teacher's blood stain the water crimson.

Itachi sank into the water, never to be seen among the living again.

Kisame had laughed, stepping forwards to take another swipe, this one aimed at the last member of team Itachi.

Naruto saw red. Kiba had drowned, unable to move his limbs or utilize his chakra enough to stay afloat, his body ripped and torn all over by Sasori's iron tail. Neji had vanished during their panicked retreat, chased by the Nuke-nin who had just ripped Itachi-sensei almost in two.

This wasn't like when he was training in Danzo's compound, and accidently drew out enough power to level two buildings. Or the time when Jiraiya had been helping him in his attempt to add his element to the rasengan, and in his effort to manipulate chakra he pulled out the Kyuubi's own, momentarily turning feral and attacking the ageing Toad sage.

All the pain he had ever endured in his life flashed before his eyes, the image of Itachi's last moments dominating his vision over and over again.

Pain echoed through his brain. Five red chakra-tails sprouted from his tailbone. Naruto's hands, when he looked down at him, were covered with the dark red, oozing stuff.

It reminded him of Itachi-sensei's blood.

Any of the older Konoha nins, if they had been listening to him at that particular moment, would have said that the howl that blasted from his lips was that of the Kyuubi in its own failed attack fourteen years earlier.

* * *

Naruto decided to retreat. It wasn't that had doubts about his ability to fight Yugito in open combat, but this mission was odd. Danzo's men had originally found the Intel on it, rather than Jiraiya's network, which was strange in and of itself. Then the supply crates were empty, and the only enemy ninja waiting was the Nibi Jinchuuriki.

For once in his brash and straightforward life, Naruto deliberately chose to act in the age-old, honored way of Ninja's retreating when the mission went so horribly off plan. If he didn't, the situation would probably go FUBAR.

* * *

Speaking of fucked up, Naruto would have definably described the man standing behind him as such. Kakuzu of the Akatsuki might even have agreed, and used the phrase to describe himself too.

When they had realized that the two Jinchuuriki wouldn't attack and tire each other out, as planned, Akatsuki had decided to move.

Call them impatient, but just as Naruto never sensed Kakuzu stepping up to stab him with a long, dark blade, Yugito never noticed Hidan until it was too late.

Zetsu, Sasori and Kisame were upset that they were even there. Kisame mostly because he wouldn't get to shred the legs off the annoying Kyuubi brat who had removed one of his arms.

* * *

The stamp of soldier's feet rocked the ground and shook the air with a continuous stamping thud. The sky light up in lightning and fire, a maelstrom of warring lights and colors, all morphing into one large blur. Rock and Sand and Plants rose up, and combated above the hordes of men, who came from all directions and meshed, forming one large bubbling cauldron of men. The ground was covered with their uniformly anguished faces.

Then Naruto woke up, hanging by his hands from the cold, wet ceiling.

His groans must of alerted a guard, because the area outside his cell suddenly became alight with scurrying movements and soft footsteps scraping against stone.

Then everything was quiet again.

Naruto looked down, to see that his body was covered in tiny black objects that jabbed into his skin. It sort of reminded him of the longer blade one of the Akatsuki nins had ambushed him with earlier.

He groaned again. His head felt like the Nibi and Hachibi were clawing out his brains, like some ravenous zombie out for his delicious, delicious gray matter.

The door to his cell was open, he realized. A man with orange hair, covered with the same black things that broke the blond Jinchuuriki's own skin. A petite blue-haired women with a paper rose in her hair was standing next to him.

His flesh resonated with an ungodly pulse that ripped through his being and made him sink, once more, into the blessed embrace of unconsciousness.

* * *

In the darkness, deep under Ame, voices were talking.

"When will we seal the Kyuubi brat?"

"After the Nibi. But the Yonbi is before both."

"Is it safe for us to have three Jinchuuriki at once?" "**We might be tempting fate.**"

"It'll be fine. We are more than capable of guarding them."

"Get to your positions. Kisame is here."

There was a soft scrapping sound, then a heavy thump. "I'd been here sooner if Tobi had helped."

"It's not his fault, you one-armed shark." "**Tobi is a good boy.**"

A deeper, more commanding voice rang out. "Get to your positions."

Several of the voices fading, grumbling as they walked into the darkness.

"I won't contend yourself with before the others, but I also think that we might be straining ourselves with three at once."

"We'll be fine, Konan. It's god's will. Peace is at hand."

* * *

**Author's Note:** Well, as I said, my schedule cleared. Then it filled again as my Grandpa called and wanted to know if I wanted to help him out. So, we ended up moving furniture, ripping up carpet, painting, throwing the new carpet in the pool (By accident. We stumbled. I almost went in too.), and painting.

I like building and maintaining his house. It's reasonably old, and my Ama (My two year old pronunciation of Grandma) always loves to change it around, so Grandad and I work on lots of different things. It all ended with us sweating and tired, admiring our work over a large glass of ice water. California is too damn hot sometimes. (Well, at least it's never too damn cold.)

This might seem strange, but if anyone lives in the San Francisco area reads this, could you leave a review about termite activity in your area? I really need that information. Thanks in advance.

So, hope you like the chapter. Halfway through, I realized I didn't want Naruto and Yugito to fight yet. And if you think the ambush is too anti-climactic, I've always thought that Atkatsuki should be more powerful than the manga made them. Except for Deidara, as he annoys me. (And is now dead.)

If you're angry about the lack of Bam in this chapter, please be patient. Next few chapters are the necessary daring escape.

Thank you. **R&R! The more you review, the faster I get off my lazy ass and update!**


	9. Escape from the Red Dawn Part One

"The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed."

-Carl Jung

* * *

Neji was alone in his canvas tent, a well of peace in the chaotic aftermath of a victorious battle. The soft scratch of his pen filled his cloth domicile, the softness of his feelings filling the rough, army-issue paper.

The fifteen year old was busy writing a letter to Tenten.

His downpour of feelings was interrupted, however, by his annoying blond friend blowing through the doorway.

"Hey! Neji!" Naruto practically yelled.

Neji looked up. "Are you drunk again, Naruto?"

The Jinchuuriki just laughed. "Shouldn't you be asking if I'm sober for once?"

The Hyuuga sighed. "Naruto..."

"Yeah, yeah." Naruto waved his hand. "What are you doing?"

Neji blushed. "Nothing."

The blond lifted his hands up to his face, and stretched out his eyes lids. "You can not lie to me, fool. My eyes can see everything."

Neji glared. "I only said that once."

Naruto laughed loudly, before reaching over and snatching the paper from the desk. "Oh my beloved Tenten!?!"

Neji rocketed to his feet. "Give that back, Uzumaki!"

Naruto shot out of the tent, shouting. "Neji's in love!!"

The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki laughed as he ran, truly happy for his friend. But as the last two members of Team Itachi raced through the tents, a small sliver of jealousy entered his heart.

* * *

Nagato, sitting in his tower high above the village of Ame, woke up with a start. He looked around, stringy red hair flapping against his ghastly pale skin, but saw nothing amiss.

In a far cry from the norm, he was alone. Konan was off supervising the construction of a small monument listing the names of the Ame ninjas who had given their chakra so that he could control both the six paths and knock out the Kyuubi and Nibi.

Most of them had died, but they died for God's will.

The emaciated leader looked around his room again. Something was off...

He manipulated his chakra flow, and his chair started moving.

When he reached a far window, Nagato put a ghoulish hand on the glass. If he strained his eyes, he could see his people walking back and forth far below.

'I'll bring them peace' He swore to himself. The Akatsuki leader moved back to the center of the room. He mentally went through the eyes of each path of pain. God realm was busy sealing the Yonbi in Gedo Mazo and the others were patrolling throughout Ame and the Akatsuki stronghold beneath his tower.

The Nibi was still in her cell and the Kyuubi.... The Kyuubi!

Five paths of pain immediately changed their courses, hurtling towards the Kyuubi's cell.

* * *

One hour earlier, Naruto finally felt alone.

He probably wasn't. A legion of nins could be right outside the door. But he still felt alone. Every instant up until that point Naruto had sensed, more than saw, that two eyes were watching him. Two large eyes, with circles in them...

Naruto shook his head. Little did he know, deep in the bowels of the earth as he was, that high above him a certain skeletal "God" had fallen asleep.

He took stock of the room. It was mostly bare, merely a box of gray stone, with dirty water dripping from the ceiling. A skeleton was lying nearby, chained to a wall. Rat tracks trailed along the floor, and many of the skeleton's bones looked chewed on.

Naruto realized that the situation wouldn't be out of place in a bad movie, or poorly written story. He thought of Jiraiya.

The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki strained his neck, and looked over his own body. He was covered in small, black things that pierced his skin, digging painfully into his flesh. His hands were bound above him, his shoulders screaming as they bore his full weight. The ground was several inches below his feet.

'Well' He thought grimly 'Might as well try to escape now, if ever.'

His hands weren't bound by rope or chains, but small seals that prevented his movement. Naruto gazed at them with an expert's eye. He knew more than a little about seals, courtesy of Jiraiya's teachings (although he had to request it. The Toad-sage had been rather hesitant to teach them to his blond student.)

Naruto wasn't the best of Fuuinnins, but his seals were no laughing matter either. And even he could tell the seals binding his wrist were substandard, at best.

They must have been relying on something else to bind him. But that something had obviously lost strength... He grinned.

All he had to do, in order to release himself, was to offer up a slight amount of blood and smear it on one of the seals. He strained his arms, and pulled himself closer to the ceiling.

But his tongue wouldn't reach it, so biting his cheek wasn't going to work. He let himself back down.

Bracing himself between the seals and the wall behind him, Naruto brought his foot to his mouth. 'If Neji ever hears about this, I'll never live it down'

He untied his boot with his mouth then struggled to remove the sock. He hesitated for a moment, leg twisted around his body. 'And here I thought I would only use this position in bed.'

Naruto bit his big toe, causing a few droplets of blood to stream down his leg. He stretched his foot up, and smeared the crimson liquid on the appropriate seal.

Thump!

Naruto looked up from the floor, and spat. "Eew."

* * *

When he got to Yugito's cell, Naruto paused. She was still unconscious, and had half-healed cuts all over her body. Whoever had captured her had been much more brutal, for some reason. Naruto frowned.

If he acted like an orthodox ninja was supposed to, he would use her to escape, either as bait or distraction, or kill her himself. She was a threat to his village, his comrades, and killing her would put a huge wrench in Akatsuki's plans, or so he assumed. Killing someone in their sleep wasn't something that would sit well in his stomach, though, and Naruto was hardly someone to follow the rules by the letter.

He fingered his kunai, and looked closely at his fellow Jinchuuriki. 'She's a danger to everything I hold dear.. to the sanctity and security of the village.' he told himself.

She had very delicate features, like a princess out of some childhood story. Her dark blond hair wrapped around her shoulders with a luxurious shimmer that was visible even in the dimness of the cell. The Nibi Jinchuuriki was beautiful, and the moment Naruto realized that, he knew he couldn't murder her in her sleep.

_'Fuck it'_ Naruto mentally swore _'I was beginning to sound too much like Danzo again, anyways.'_

The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki moved into the cell, unaware that, high above him, Nagato chose that moment to wake up.

Naruto took his kunai and applied pressure to one of Yugito's cuts, drawing out some blood. After he used it to break the seals binding her to the wall, (she, he realized with righteous indignation, had been able to set her feet on the ground. Fucking akatsuki.) he got to work removing the little black blades that covered her body, just like they had covered his.

* * *

Nagato's eyes widened. He could feel the Nibi's chakra receptors being removed.

With a mere mental flick, he started to channel chakra to her and redirected the paths of pain.

"This is God's will!" He intoned to the empty room, the universe his parish.

* * *

Yugito's fist came up and hit Naruto right in the jaw.

"God dammit!" He yelled. He was about to apologize for where his hands had been, but realized that Yugito was still asleep.

He had shrugged it off and resumed work removing the blade lodged in her thigh when Yugito tried to knee him between his legs.

Naruto backed up, automatically wincing. The Nibi Jinchuuriki was definably still unconscious, but whenever he touched her, she attacked him.

The only time Naruto had ever seen a shinobi without being conscious had been in the chuunin exams. A Konoha nin named Rock Lee had shocked both the native Suna nins and his Konoha comrades by continually standing up and fighting the Ichibi Jinchuuriki, Sabaku no Gaara.

Something told him that Yugito's movements weren't out of ingrained training, though. Naruto realized it would be best to remove the black things as quickly as possible.

"You're turning into too much trouble for even my bleeding heart, darling." He told the sleeping Kumo nin, before channeling chakra to his arms. Naruto's solution was to move too fast for the unconscious Nibi Jinchuuriki to strike back at him effectively.

Dodging her increasingly less accurate limbs, Naruto eventually able to remove all of the tiny black blades from her body. Yugito still refused to wake up, however, so he picked her up and slung her over his shoulders.

Three men with orange hair were running down the hallway.

* * *

Something was hitting her face.

Yugito couldn't see anything. That is to say, she could only see a massive blur. To one side of her, she could see a dark grayish expanse, interrupted by random flashes and orange blurs. To her other side, something red kept hitting her face with a solid, if not too painful, thump. As her vision cleared, Yugito came to realize that she had it wrong, and that she was the one hitting it, instead. She closed her eyes and counted to thirty, lightly channeling chakra to her eyes.

By the time she finished counting, her vision had cleared immensely. Someone who was wearing an red coat was carrying her, and they were being chased by a group of uniformed men with orange hair and black stubs sticking out of their flesh.

Akatsuki. She mentally swore.

* * *

Naruto grabbed a wall as we went around a corner, chakra-laced digits piercing the stone as easily as they would water. He used his arm to swing around the corner, maintaining his speed and shooting off down a new hallway. The Nibi was thumping against his back with each step he took.

A scrapping sound in front of him drew his attention to a large bald man, who had the same black studs protruding from his body. As Naruto backpedaled furiously, the man lifted his arm, and fired it -his fucking arm!- at him. The beefy limb shot down the hallway like some fleshy arrow, forcing Naruto to throw himself onto the ground, Yugito on top of him. He dropped her, and started channeling his own chakra.

Blades of wind shot down the hallway, cutting the stone into dust and slivers, and closed in on the bald, one-armed man. Naruto winced in preparation of the gory slush that the man would be transformed into, men stricken down by wind jutsu were rarely recognizable again.

Another man, this one with two large spikes sticking out of his cheeks and a line of them running down his nose, stepped into the light and in the way of the invisible blades. Naruto frowned, it was common knowledge that chakra-enforced wind could cut through swaths of men, and they were all the more deadly in contained spaces where it wouldn't spread out.

When the blades of air struck the man, they warped, bending around his arms before dissipating harmlessly against his chest. Naruto's jaw dropped and he felt like wetting himself. The man had sucked the chakra out of his jutsu!

He wrapped an arm around his companion, and dove down an adjacent hallway. He opened his hand, forming a swirling blue sphere of chakra, and used it on the wall. He held it there as he ran, debris piling up behind him.

Naruto set the Nibi Jinchuuriki down, and turned around. The hallway was blocked. He sighed in relief.

Then he felt the sharp, cold metal of a kunai placed at his neck, and tensed again.

A calm, collected voice wafted past his ear, the owner's breath rustling his hair. "Tell me what is going on, Kyuubi."

_'Shit.'_

* * *

"Ideas are dangerous things, Yugito."

The little girl nodded. "Yes, Sensei."

They were south of Kumogakure, in the ring of mountains that surrounded the village. Her sensei was slightly above her, clinging to the cliffside and looking down at the village far below. Yugito spared a glance of her own, then continued climbing up the mountainside.

Her sensei looked down at her. "Ideas are the most dangerous weapon you can wield, Yugito."

The Nibi Jinchuuriki would have answered again, but she was busy climbing the crumbling rock that made this peak a famous training ground. If she tried to force too much chakra into the rock, it crumbled, forcing her to use the minimum necessary to climb.

Her sensei was yards ahead of her, but his voice still reached her ears. "Ideas wrack the brains and hearts of shinobi. We fight and kill for them, and die for them if need be."

Yugito slide down as some rock gave way, then regained her position. "Yes" Her voice was interrupted by another cascade of pebbles, and her breath hitched. "Yes, Sensei."

"And the worst of ideas is the assumption, Yugito." No pebbles fell from where her sensei was climbing, as was fitting of a Kumogakure jounin.

"Assumption, Sensei?"

"To take something for granted, Yugito, to expect what is going to happen."

Yugito was confused. "Aren't we supposed to plan ahead?"

"There is a difference between planning and you expect something to happen, you might be right. But if you're wrong, what happens? In plans, you have back ups, and you're prepared. When you assume something about a situation, or your enemy, or even yourself... then you're at your weakest." Her sensei had already reached the top, and was standing at the edge, watching her.

The Nibi Jinchuuriki flushed, embarrassed that she was taking so long. Her sensei sat down, feet dangling over the edge. "If you assume something about someone, you gradually build an image about them in your mind that doesn't reflect reality."

Yugito struggled to rise any higher, her breathing ragged and heavy. "I understand, Sensei." Larger chunks of the cliff started coming away in her hands. Her chakra was being whittled away, piece by piece, to the point where it was extremely brittle, prone to "snap" and fail. She tried to channel more, to reinforce the invisible blue "blades" that she was extending from her fingers, but couldn't.

"I don't think you do, Yugito." Her sensei reached down, grabbing her wrist and holding her over the abyss. "I really don't think you do."

When he saw her terrified face, he laughed, long and raspy. "You assume that because I'm your sensei, I won't hurt you!" He shook her, making her dangle and dance through the air like a rag doll gone mad. "What if the Raikage orders me to kill you? What will I do then?!"

Yugito fought to control her fear, like a good shinobi, and forced herself to speak. "You would h-have" Her sensei jerked her again, making her tumble. "have to assassinate me, lest I become a threat to the village."

"Good!" Her sensei laughed again, before throwing her into the air.

She screamed as she flew through the air, over the gaping maw that sheltered the village so very far below. Tears came unbidden, her only companions in her descent.

Then a hooked kunai flew through the air, followed by another, both trailing rope behind her. They sank into her body, stopping her fall with a painful jarring thud. The rope thrummed, and her sensei started pulling her up.

When he finally hoisted her to the clifftop again, he set her down on the ground and kicked her, right where the kunai had ripped her flesh, sending her rolling away from the edge. He was on her in an instant, pulling her hair and holding a kunai to her neck. "In the world of Shinobi, Yugito, the situation is always fluid. If you don't keep an open mind, and change with the situation, you become obsolete, and you become dead."

His voice became dangerously low. "Do you understand me?" She bled where the blade had nicked her.

Yugito was terrified. "Y-yes! Yes sensei!"

"Good." He got off of her, and started walking away. "You will stay here for the night." He gestured to the bare, rocky mountaintop.

"Yes, Sir."

It was only after she was certain that he was gone that she allowed her last few tears to drop and started building herself a shelter.

* * *

The Kyuubi flashed his best grin, a droplet of sweat dripping down the side of his face. Yugito realized she had never been this close to him,without trying to kill him.

Of course, she still could. She held the blade closer to his neck, a few drops of blood sliding down his neck. The Kyuubi's smile vanished, and he swallowed nervously.

He was younger than she had thought, younger than Kumogakure's portfolio on him suggested. He was wearing, for some reason, a bright red coat with black flames running around the bottom, and a black and orange outfit. The only thing she could really say was that he looked, in the world of ninja at least, ridiculous.

The Kyuubi laughed nervously. "The Akatsuki captured the both of us. As I was making my own escape, I came across your cell. After freeing you, the black-stud squad showed up. I fled with you slung over my back."

Yugito frowned. "You saved me?"

The Kyuubi laughed like someone had told him an inside joke. "The Akatsuki are a mutual enemy, Nibi. I didn't like the idea of being in an enemy base without back up." He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "And if I took you it would be a good wrench in their plans."

Yugito sighed. _'Change with the situation, eh Sensei?'_ She moved the kunai away from the Kyuubi's neck. The blond man sagged in obvious relief. "A temporary truce, then?"

The Kyuubi grinned widely. "Sure." He proffered his hand. "Do you have a name I can call you?"

She hesitantly shook his hand. "Yugito."

The blond Konoha nin grinned wider. "Nice to meet you, Yugito. I'm Uzumaki Naruto. Let's get the hell out of here."

* * *

**Author's Note:** Hey all. Been a week or so. I've been alternating between paid work at the local pizzeria, and unpaid (but more satisfying) work at my Grandparents. We're re-carpeting at the moment.

The termite question from last chapter still stands. Also: Can anyone who lives near the ocean tell me the effect it has on the maintenance of their homes?

**I'm in the market for a Beta Reader**... I've been meaning to get one, but I'm unsure how. I figured I'd just throw an invitation out there, and if anyone was interested they'd respond.

Well, **R&R! **Reviews make me update faster. (A rather whorish trait of mine, eh? Seriously though, **R&R!**)


	10. The World Turns in an Instant

The world changes, and all that once was strong now proves unsure.

-J. R. R. Tolkien

x

xxxxxxxxxx

x

"You're sure about this, Jiraiya-sama?"

The elderly man nodded, his wrinkled face stretching into a stern frown. "When am I never sure about something, Kakashi?"

"I'm sure that Tsunade-sama might have an example, if she was here."

Unbidden, a memory of days long past floated into his mind. _'"Hi! I'm Jiraiya! You can send me a love letter later!"''_

Jiraiya snorted. He stood, towering over the men around him. "My suggestion, Kakashi, is that you take this information to the Kazekage. He'll be upset by it, but he still needs to know. With Naruto gone, I need to head to the eastern front... Someone has to balance out Kumo's remaining Jinchuuriki."

After pushing his way out of the canvas tent, squinting at the bright desert sun and automatically reaching for his canteen, the Toad-sage turned to the Jounin commander once more. "I used to be able to move at will and utilize my network effectively, but the Jinchuuriki have changed everything. They're too powerful. Without ninja like you and I, and with the brat gone, we'd be overrun. It's become less about subtlety and more about matching the strength of individual ninjas..."

Jiraiya sighed, and moved aside, his smaller comrade sidling up next to him. "Forgive me for asking, Jiraiya-sama, but what did happen to Uzumaki-kun? Information's been rather hushed."

"Danzo." The older man spat, temperamentally grinding some pebbles beneath his feet. "Naruto was sent out on a mission based on information Danzo provided and vanished. They should have waited for me to back up the information myself. But by the time I found out, we had lost contact with Naruto. The Black ops only found a ruined valley and scattered supplies everywhere."

Kakashi frowned beneath his mask, his sole visible eye narrowing. "Who do they think is responsible?"

Jiraiya grunted. "Kumo. But I'd keep an eye on Danzo, if I were you, Hatake."

Then the commander of Konoha's western front was alone, rocks, sand, and sun his only companions. _'It always comes down to things like this, eh Obito?'_

Like always, Obito chose not to respond.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Sasuke?!"

Uchiha Sasuke turned around, and was greeted by the sight of his father's chest. Fugaku let out a deep, throaty laugh and embraced his son. "We thought you were dead!"

_'Close enough!' _Sasuke suppressed his agonized inner thoughts and hugged his father back. "Of course I'm not, father. I am an Uchiha, after all." The two men shared a confident grin.

Fugaku looked years younger, and the joy in his voice made him sound it too. "I shouldn't have doubted you. Your mother will be thrilled."

_'She wouldn't, if she knew what actually happened, Father!' _Sasuke screamed mentally. But externally, he only frowned. "I'm sorry to say that most of my men didn't make it..." _'None of them made it!! Open your eyes! They're all spies!'_

His father turned solemn. "Then we'll honor them with the respect shown to all of the nins who fall in the name of our village. They'll be sent home as heroes."

Sasuke fought back a renewed wave of tortured mental screams, and smiled mournfully. "It is the least we can do."

Fugaku embraced his son again. "We'll honor them, Sasuke. With both ceremony and vengeance, believe it."

The young nin smiled widely. "All of my enemies will pay for what they've done, father. Don't fear."

_'He means you! and all of Konoha! Don't listen to him, Father! Please!!"_

Father and son went to go eat dinner together. Fugaku hadn't been so happy in years.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kirabi yawned.

Everything was so... so.. so **boring**!

Yugito was missing, and while he hadn't been too close to her, she was a fellow container, and was incredibly fun to tease. She was one of the rare few who inspired him with new verses whenever they met.

_'So, that means I'll have to scratch Kyuubi-kun and Yugito off the list, their absence really make me..uh...'_

Kirabi frowned. Dammit. It was hard to be creative when you were surrounded by uninspiring idiots. _'really makes me... Pi-issed!' _He smirked.

_**'I didn't think it was possibly, but you're actually getting worse as time goes on. Shut the hell up. Your rapping sucks!' **_Hachibi grumbled, his baritone voice rumbling throughout Kirabi's head.

_'You're just jealous. My rapping is going to rock the world!' _Kirabi got up. His brother was doing some speech across the camp, but he didn't particularly feel like showing up. The search for Yugito had been called off much to soon, in his opinion...

The Hachibi was muttering something, but the Kumo Jinchuuriki easily ignored him.

Everything was so boring... _'Maybe I should leave. See the world and all the s-ea...ves!'_

_**'Do you even know what rap sounds like?'**_

xxxxxxxxxxxx

"Uzumaki Naruto?" Yugito said, frowning. The young man squatting before her, extending his hand grinned widely.

She winced. She wasn't sure, but she had the feeling that her fellow jinchuuriki had picked up the expression from someone who thought they looked cool.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Gai paused in battle, sneezing loudly. His enemies tried to take advantage of his momentary distraction, and charged.

"Ha!" He roared, blasting them all back. "No one can stand before the might of Youth!"

"Yosh!" Lee yelled, mimicking his Sensei and flashing their super-cool-grin-of-youthfulness.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

"Uh.." Yugito said. "I... I guess you can call me Yugito. Nii Yugito."

Naruto shook her hesitantly offered hand. "Alright, Yugito! Let's get out of here!"

She just groaned.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

**AN:** Well, this last few weeks have been hell on my personal life. Five years just got up and walked out of the door of my apartment. I don't have my dog anymore, either.

It was hard mustering the will to write. All I wanted to do was lie there and mope. But when I finally logged back on to my email, all the reviews cheered me up.

I didn't want to tackled anything big (A.k.a. Naruto and Yugito's first meeting/conversation) while I was depressed and might do a halfhearted job, so I decided to offer a "what's happening around the world right now!" chapter.

Sorry if you were expecting more. Now, if you all excuse me, I have to go shave off my new beard and clean up my room. It looks like a typhoon came through.

To anyone who asked a question of is waiting for a response from me: I'll get too it tomorrow.

Thanks for the reviews everyone. It cheered me up to be appreciated, ha ha.

**R&R!**


	11. Escape from the Red Dawn Part Two

"Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts."  
-Arnold Bennett

* * *

The man's voice was tinged with the slightest hint of a whine, the pathetic sort of noise that a broken dog might utter at it's master's dinner table, head low and tail covering it's testicles. "Kyuubi-sama! Try some of my fruit!"

The Kyuubi looked over. The vendor was bald, middle-aged man whose wrinkled white workshirt was stained with large wet sweat stains. The Kyuubi imagined, more than actually heard, the wet flabby sound he made whenever he moved his arms.

The Jinchuuriki's voice was monotone. "I've met you before."

The man cringed and wrung his hands servilely. "Y-yes, Kyuubi-sama. I've had the pleasure of your patronage before."

_"We don't serve people like you here, monster! Get the hell away from me before I call the Military Police!"_

_Something wet hit Naruto's face. It was a rotten fruit, scooped from a trashbin by some elderly spinster. The quiet jeers of the citizens shopping cut the young boy to his core, and he fought back the tears. He'd be Hokage someday, **and Hokage didn't cry, Dammit!**_

_Naruto was actually considering eating the spoiled food when a different, far more cultured voice came floating past his ears. "Give him what he wants."_

_Though he didn't cry then (**A Hokage never cried!**), it would be a lie to say that Naruto's eyes didn't become moist. "It's ok, Hinata-chan... I-"_

_"Shut up, Naruto." She commanded. The Hyuuga heiress firmly stepped up beside him, sending the Shopkeep her families' patented glare. "I am the heir to the Hyuuga clan, and I command that you give him the food that he requires."_

_The man was an idiot, however, and continued to sneer down at the young gennin, even as his former companions started to move away. "I don't care if you're the fuc-"_

_"Sir, if I had the utter misfortune to be you, I'd watch what you're about to say." Neji said from beside the man, his fingers resting on his kunai. "I would hate to hurt anyone that is assaulting my ward, physically or otherwise."_

_The man swallowed, loudly. He suddenly realized that he was alone, the crowd long since having dispersed. He bagged up the fruit Naruto had requested without a word, and waved the blond's money away with a motion of his hands and a wimpy "N-no charge."_

_When they had reached the relative privacy of a nearby alleyway, Naruto turned to his savior. "You didn't have to do that, Hinata-chan, but thanks." He wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace. Hinata turned bright red._

_Neji rolled his eyes at the display. "Careful, Uzumaki. I'm Hinata-sama's bodyguard today, and I'm the one who gets to define what is and isn't an "attack."" Nonetheless, he moved away and gave them some privacy._

_Hinata was as red as a fire-wagon, but didn't move from his embrace. "I hate they way people treat you, Naruto-kun. It's not right."_

_Naruto just hugged her tighter. "As long as I have people like you and the old man, it's ok Hinata-chan."_

_She frowned, disagreeing but unwilling to start an argument over it. "Uh, Naruto, I was wondering..." She trailed off._

_Naruto smirked. "I thought we cured you of shyness, Hinata! You were wondering...?"_

_She blushed. "Uh... I was wondering if, to celebrate our graduation, you wanted to go out to eat with me."_

_He grinned. "Of course! Where do you want to go? I mean, Neji doesn't like ramen or anything, so maybe the Bar-_"

_"Er- No, Naruto. I meant just the two of us."_

_The Jinchuuriki blushed. "Ah... You mean, like a date?"_

_Hinata nodded, suddenly finding the ally wall incredibly interesting._

_Naruto laughed nervously. "Ah, Sure."_

_The change in Hinata's demeanor came faster than lightning. "G-Great!" She finally hugged him back, blushing furiously. She wriggled out of his arms and started... well it seemed like skipping (not that a Hyuuga would ever skip. No matter how much it might look like skipping, it wasn't. Stop asking questions!) towards Neji._

_Naruto grinned, mimicking a cool looking man he'd seen running around the village with five boulders on his back._

_"And, Naruto-kun?" Hinata said from the far end of the alley._

_"Yes?" He said, fixing her with his new smile._

_Hinata flashed a self-confident smirk back at him, causing his heart to beat furiously. "Do wash the fruit off your face, neh?" She ran after Neji, leaving Naruto rooted to the ground, face redder than a dying star.  
_  
The Kyuubi opened his eyes, and the ageing shopkeep was holding out a bag of produce. A relieved smile plastered his face when the Jinchuuriki accepted it. "Y-Yes, Kyuubi-sama. We've met before. I even met your friend." He nodded towards the marble statue that the Kyuubi pointedly refused to look at. "Hyuuga Hi-"

"Say her name, and I'll jam all of your fruit down your throat." Kyuubi emotionlessly intoned. People like him, people who didn't have the courage to fight for their own protection but just joined in with the crowd, jeered with the mob, didn't deserve to say her name.

The man backed away squeaking. The Kyuubi walked off. He had an appointment at Danzo's compound to keep and he couldn't be wasting his time with fools.

* * *

"So, do you think we should head left or right?"

Yugito ignored him, simply marching to the right and away from her circumstantial comrade. Naruto rolled his eyes, but really didn't mind. The view from behind was as nice as the front. He chuckled. He knew that he should keep his mind on the situation, but he was in the hideout of the most powerful non-village ninja organization in the world, and the chance to escape was pitifully small. _'Might as well enjoy the sights before I get caught and die, neh?'_

Even though his fellow Jinchuuriki had the social skills of an iceberg locked in full Arctic winter, she certainly also possessed the stunning, graceful beauty of one. He eyes, hair… her every movement spoke of an eternal grace, one that could never be learned no matter how much one tried… in her was born the ability to move through the world like some intangible whisp, simultaneously tangible and ephemeral… and

_'And you ought to get a damn hold of yourself, idiot. Focus on escaping, not the hot piece of ass that gouged out your left eye the last time you crossed paths.' _Naruto wanted to bang his head against the wall, but it looked rather wet and slimy, so he decided against it.

As if she could hear his thoughts, Yugito turned around and gave him a cold, penetrating stare before marching onwards.

_'On second thought, screw it. A man-'_

* * *

"-should enjoy himself before he dies!" Jiraiya roared, a beautiful, questionably-legal woman in each arm. "Come on, Naruto!"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "No thanks, you old pervert. I'd rather not spend my first leave getting drunk and ruining my reputation with you. The village already has the quota for "Super-perverts" filled."

His aged teacher laughed, slightly drunk. "It's fine, kid! It's just a way to blow off steam."

The smile Jiraiya sent him was so sober and full of pain that Naruto unconsciously took a few steps back. "Trust me on this one kid. I've lost friends too."

Then the toad-sage was gone, his voluptuous friends' giggling trailing in his wake. Naruto just sighed. He wasn't some perverted fool, chasing after skirts with reckless abandon! Doing things like that were supposed to be special! …Right?

Neji was off to see some brunette from the western front… how the hell they had managed to sync their leaves together, Naruto had no idea, but he suspected Hiashi's deft hand working in the shadows somewhere…

Hiashi. Bah. His name left a bad taste in the Uzumaki's mouth. _'Fucking Hiashi. Fucking Hyuuga.'_

Except for Neji and …Hinata, of course.

Alone at the bar but surrounded by well-wishing people he had never heard of, Naruto's resolve started to weaken. _'A man should enjoy himself before he dies…'_

Had Hinata enjoyed herself before she died? Had she been happy, at all? The fifteen year old wasn't sure. _'A man should enjoy himself before he dies…'_

Some girls from across the bar were eyeing him lustfully. Ayame had too, that night before he left for the front, the very first time. All the way to the small storage room behind the shop, she'd been eyeing him…

_'Do wash the fruit off your face, neh?' _Hinata's voice said, in his head. She had said that too, when he and Ayame had stumbled into the storage room, breathe reeking of alcohol…

Would those girls breath reek too? Would the hesitation and regret enter their eyes when they woke up the next morning too?

_"Naruto!"_ Ayame yelled, her voice resounding through his foggy mind. He took another drink. _"Naruto! Naruto!"_

Naruto got up and sauntered over to the girls. The nearest, and most bold-looking of them grinned at him in greeting. "Hello, Kyuubi-sama."

_'A man should enjoy himself before he dies.'_

He fired off some not-so witty remark that had all of them giggling like he was the funniest man in the world. Drinks were poured, caresses shared, looks exchanged.

_"A man-" _Naruto lifted the newest bottle to his lips. _"-should enjoy himself-"_ The harsh liquid poured down his throat, making his eyes water and his insides sting.

_"-before he dies." Jiraiya finished, that damn painfully **knowing** look on his face._

Later, on his way home with his own buxom companion in tow (the boldest one), he took the long way.

It was easier to avoid the marketplace that way.

* * *

Yugito was glaring at him. He mentally rolled his eyes. How was he supposed to know that his wind jutsu would do that to the goddamn wall? She _should_ be glaring at the enemy for their damn shoddy construction, not him!

One of the pierced Akatsuki-nins with the orange hair and weird eyes had suddenly rounded a corner ahead of them, and had immediately started forming handseals.

Yugito had moved to attack it, but Naruto threw a hand in front of her and started casting his own jutsu. The Akatsuki nin summoned a large reptile _thing _that had rushed down the hallway towards them.

Ah, sometimes it was truly a blessing to have Wind-based chakra. The invisible blades sliced through the _thing_, which had no space to dodge. Naruto managed to grab one quick glance at the enemy ninja, taking note of the long pony-tail and slightly-perplexed face, before the blades continued down their set path. The man was shredded to bits.

Naruto winced out of habit. Yugito remained impassive. His hand twitched, as it always did, towards his right thigh pocket.

Naruto forcibly stilled his limbs and turned towards his cold ally. "They must know where we are, vaguely. Think the shared eyes means anything?" As he spoke, he stepped forward, onto the area cut apart by his justu.

Yugito frowned slightly (for some reason, it didn't mar her looks at all.) "It might. From what we've seen, they act with an inordinate amount of unity."

It was the first time she had spoken to him since their shaky greeting. Naruto grinned. "Well, one down, neh? Let's get going." He placed a hand on the cracked and pitted wall.

There was an ominous rumble. Both Jinchuuriki paled.

When the first stone flakes started peeling off the wall and impacting the floor, they both turned tails (two and nine respectively) and fled. The hallway crumbled behind them, following them until they reached the last intersection they had passed.

And thus, Yugito was glaring at him. His hand started making it's usually twitchy fidget towards his right thigh pocket, but he forced it still again. "You're reminding me of my field commander, Fugaku." He laughed darkly. "He glares just as much as you do. But he usually swears too, so I guess you're not that bad."

She looked confused. "Your commanding officer treats you poorly? Have you tried writing a report on it?"

Now he was the confused one. "Report? No… Why would I? He's my commander." _'And Itachi-sensei's father…' _

Yugito gave him a slightly pitying look. "Any Kumo commander treating a ninja, especially a Jinchuuriki, but even a nin of lower rank without respect is summerarily reprimanded by the Raikage. It keeps everything professional and organized."

In truth, Naruto was slightly shocked. It had never occurred to him to judge his superiors' actions or orders… They were superiors for a reason, weren't they? (And where did a Jinchuuriki fit in?) …It was all too tangled… The dead child from Taikumo flashed before his eyes.

"Uzumaki-san? We better get going." Yugito's smooth voice intruded on his thoughts.

"Uh, Yeah." He muttered back at her. The moment her back was turned, his hand flew into his pocket, and drew out his flask. The alcohol burned his throat.

* * *

Nagato was raging.

Animal Realm was destroyed. God Realm still busy with sealing the Yonbi. The other realms were altering their search to look in where Nagato thought the Jinchuuriki would go, but it wasn't a sure thing.

"Dammit!" Nagato yelled, pounding a sickly fist against his chair. "I have to end this! I have to stop this war! I'll bring peace! It is the will of God!"

The world was in chaos! Just like in his childhood, innocents were suffering because of the hatred of a few powerful factions.

"But, silly little Nagato, it seems that even God can overextend himself."

Nagato's head shot up. Standing in the center of his tower abode was the one man he feared (**No! A God would never fear!**) more than any other.

"I need your help…"Tobi". The Nibi and the Kyuubi have fled their cells and are proving rather difficult to track. With the other members wrapped up in the sealing process, I need you to track them down."

The man gave a slow, self-satisfied laugh. "No, boy, I really don't think I will. There is a price for hubris, after all."

"What!?"

"Both of them will keep, for now. Their beasts won't let them spoil." The man started moving back into the shadow.

"But they're **_here_**! Not in their villages! **_Here!_**" Nagato was yelling again.

The man's posture stiffened. "Don't take that tone with me, fool. I'm not the one who overextended himself capturing Jinchuuriki! I won't clean up your messes like some paternal saint!"

He smirked (not that Nagato could see it) at the red-haired leader of Akatsuki. "I thought that was _your_ job after all, **God**."

Then he melted into the nothingness from whence he came. He could wait. He _had_ waited. A year, two, **ten!** …It didn't matter. He always got what he wanted, in the end.

Nagato, whose plans weren't as fluid, was left fuming.

* * *

"Shh!" Yugito whispered furiously.

Her traveling companion immediately seized up and looked around, as if expecting an attack.

"Do you hear that?" She asked.

The Kyuubi paused for a long moment. "Running water."

Yugito nodded. "It sounds like it's running back towards that crushed hallway. It might be our way out of here."

The Konoha-nin looked dubious. "It might be a way to drown."

Yugito frowned at him. She wasn't really used to her suggestion being dismissed out of hand. It was slightly refreshing, even if it was irritating. "Let's go back, and you can drill down with that spinning orb. If it's a good way to escape, you can blast the hole closed again after we go through."

He just sighed and agreed. For some reason, he looked like he lacked the will to fight. She shrugged. If he got himself killed, she wouldn't particularly care, unless he hampered her own escape.

…But he had saved her life… Yugito wasn't without honor, but his actions confused her. _She_ certainly wouldn't have risked an enemy Jinchuuriki like that. If anything, she'd kill them while they were helpless. There were fewer problems for her village that way.

She resolved to help him, unless it went directly against her safety or the villages…

…but his very existence was a direct threat to her village. It was all so confusing.

He was drilling now, his muscular torso straining was with the effort (She pretended not to notice that part). Seeing the …"Rasengan" made her stomach clench. She still had the scars from the time it had been wielded on her.

The Kyuubi turned towards her. "Looks like you were right. We're right at the edge of a natural cave system… Want to risk it?"

If anything, it was better than staying put in Akatsuki's base. "Yes."

"Alright, then." He said.

Together, they descended into darkness.

* * *

**  
AN: **Well then. It is Five in the morning. I promised myself I would edit this, but I can't muster the energy to do more than a quick run through.  
Which basically means Spell-check. Uggh. Sorry for any errors.

Welp, the family that didn't leave me back when I posted the last chapter has left now. (Albeit temporarily.) I'm home alone for four days. I'm also  
a bit of a chicken when it comes to the dark, so hence the staying up all night and sleeping in the daytime.

I hope I don't go driving tomorrow. That would suck. (Driving rocks. Driving when tired: not so much.)

Working on a Oneshot I've had running through my head for a few weeks. It's proving a might difficult, but I had my friend **Soulcry** promise to edit  
it for me, so it should be good when I finally post. Unless my plot sucks (which it might.)

Speaking of Soul! I've been working with some colleagues to form a Conjunct story group (CGNA). So far, we've been working on one story  
(Weavings) and we've all submitted one chapter. We leave the individual touches of each author in their chapter (like my long, rambling **AN**!)  
Anyways, please check it out. A link is in my profile. Thanks!

**Special thanks to:  
**

**Sangkun **for telling me not to be sad, but glad. Made me smile. (I've been strapped for smiles recently, so it was really appreciated.)

**  
Thousand Tailed Holy FlashFang** for telling me to continue… Or else! I read it at like One in the morning, when I was home alone, so it kinda creeped me out, heh.

**  
joseph33759 **for his rather blunt review trying to cheer me up. I appreciate it, guys.

**  
InARealPickle **for answering my questions.

**  
And! **

**  
He who Rules with an Iron Hoof **for starting a discussion on Fanon Vs. Canon. I didn't contribute, unfortunately was short on time, but it really  
opened my eyes to some things I had believed that were just _wrong_!

Ok, well this AN has gone on for long enough. I'll catch you all next time, looking forward to the newest batch of reviews. Thanks everyone!

-T.J. Wilcox

(In the newest chapter (**SPOILER!) **I loved how everyone jumped the Raikage when he smashed the table. Made me chuckle. And Gaara rocks. And  
Kankuro has a puppet that I think looks like Sasori. And Sakura is too dumb to live… Poor Hinata. That is all.)


	12. Of Droplets and Maggots

"Yes; quaint and curious war is!  
You shoot a fellow down  
You'd treat if met where any bar is,  
Or help to half-a-crown."

-_Thomas Hardy, segment of __The Man He Killed_

* * *

_Every once in awhile…_

_Every once in awhile, it is nice…_

_It is nice to close your eyes and believe in a better world._

_To allow hope and a vision of a bright future to fill you, to make your limbs tingle and your heart leap… with… joy._

_To forget all the evil in the world, to ignore the thousand foot layer of bile that humanity lives in…_

_That humanity __**produces!**_

_To turn a blind eye to the hate and death and maiming and rape and __**vile spewing excrement that pours out of our every orifice!**_

_It… is nice to believe that the future has hope. But then the moment ends. Snap! Bam! The muck slams down on you! It surrounds you! It __**drowns **__you! Humanities' damnation stands stark before you! It is in the eyes of friends lost! In the eyes of those marching towards their very certain doom!_

_Heh…_

_Still, you know… it really is nice._

Naruto closed his journal and placed it to the side. The Jinchuuriki ran a weary hand through his spiky, blond locks and closed his eyes.

"Kyuubi." A dark blur said, some random ninja on the other side of the canvas. "It is time."

The man moved away, as faceless and nameless as any ninja could possibly be. The army was filled with men like that. Anonymous little cogs in the lovely, unstoppable machine that was their advance. One of those unfortunate nins not famed, without a name or ranking in the bingo book but still required to charge the field and die.

Naruto took a hasty swig from his silver flask (he had looted it from the last Kumo field command he had crushed) and stepped out of his tent and into the rain.

Even as he moved to his assigned spot, he could feel the chakra of the opposing army approaching, he could _**feel**_the two Jinchuuriki of Kumo at the front of the assault.

He chuckled darkly. Jinchuuriki had two roles on the battlefield: slaughter the pawns and fight each other to a standstill.

After one more sip of burning ambrosia, he sent out a burst of the Kyuubi's demonic chakra. The Konoha ninja grouped around him immediately broke into relieved grins. They put their faith in him. Heaven knew why.

One of the squad leaders turned to the assembled troops. "Come on, Boys! Let's slit their throats! **For Konoha!**"

Yelling and screaming and scrambling for all they were worth, the Konoha ninjas charged.

Naruto shrugged. Most of them would die and he had a bigger role to play. The Hachibi was waiting for him in the middle of the battle, a zone of calm wrapped around him, an area where no lesser nin would tread. The Nibi was off assaulting his comrades on the far end of the field.

"Well" Naruto muttered into his flask "It would be rude to refuse such a blatant invitation." He cast a handsign and vanished in a swirl of wind and leaves.

* * *

The dripping was slowly driving Yugito insane.

She lifted a bright, flaming palm towards the ceiling. Her arm was completely ablaze with smokeless, blue fire that consumed no oxygen. Small drops of water (she hoped. It had a rather strange smell to it.) undulated on the rock spikes above her before finally, inevitably losing the fight with gravity and tumbling down towards the waiting stalagmites below.

Drip…

Drip…

Drip…

Drip. _Drip. Drip. DripDripDripDrip__**Drip! **_

Something inside her snapped, something dark and deep, something that hated the sound of dripping water. With an evil, vengeful glare consuming her features, she turned her flaming limb towards the heavens and seared the rock above her, drying it instantly. _'Try dripping in hell!' _She cackled mentally, flush with triumph.

"Everything alright, Yugito-san?" Her ally-by-circumstance asked from behind her.

She could see his confused face behind her, and she felt a hot rush of embarrassment. "I'm fine, K- …Uzumaki-san. I just wanted a bit more light, for a moment… to… see if anything was lurking ahead. If I increased the light suddenly, an attacker might not be able to hide." She lied (not-so) smoothly.

"Oh." He said, buying it completely and moving up beside her, peering into the cavernous twilight. "See anything of note?"

"No." Yugito replied, before slipping back into her usual mask of cold professionalism and marching again. The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki started blathering on about some subject… He was doing that a lot, though he was careful to avoid the more war-sensitive topics… Yugito only half-listened.

Somewhere ahead of her, a sound rang out. A hellish, horrible sound that resounded through the cave. She gritted her teeth.

_**Drip!**_

* * *

Roshi screamed, if it could be called that. The sound that ripped from his raw throat indicted a level of pain beyond understanding of those still wrapped in mortal coil. It was far beyond a scream, it was the horribly shrieking sound that a man made when his soul was ripped in twain.

Pein knew that sound well. He was, after all, a god. The God-realm body pushed more chakra into the sealing, ripping the Yonbi from its host.

Roshi caught a final glimpse of his lifelong companion, of the burden his village had seen fit to inflict upon him. He saw the Yonbi for an instant, saw the pain he felt mirrored on its apish face. Then, with a finally, sickening rip, it was gone.

Roshi's corpse crashed to the floor.

The God-realm Pein knelt by the body, gently closing the blank, staring eyes. "Another innocent killed for peace. Your sacrifice will not go in vain."

"**Quite touching. I wonder… Will you say the same thing for the Nibi and Kyuubi after they meet their ends?"**

Pein looked up, glaring at the large Plant-man that loomed over him. "I take it that you are here for the body?"

A thick, rotting odor wafted from the man, covering Pein and making him feel like he was covered in grease. Zetsu looked down at Roshi's corpse. **"Of course I am." **"He does look so very delicious." **"And it's been awhile since I've had an Iwagakure Nin."**

God-realm Pein moved away from the dead Jinchuuriki. "I suppose I could let you have the body…perhaps…"

A devious half-grin broke out across the white-side of Zetsu's face. "It is the usual policy."

The black side was as dour as ever. **"But you want to use it as leverage for something, don't you?"**

Pein frowned. "I know that you can travel through root systems, and through water-soaked ground. Go after the Nibi and Kyuubi. If you bring one of them back, I'll give you this corpse, theirs, and any Ame nin of your choice. Bring both of them back and I'll sweeten the deal." More innocents, sacrificed for the greater good.

Zetsu mumbled to himself before coming to some sort of conclusion. **"I bring both back and I get to choose a child too."**

Anger flashed onto Pein's face but vanished instantly. "Fine."

It was all for the greater good. It was all for peace.

It left a bad taste in his mouth.

* * *

Sasuke's mouth twisted into a sick smirk, one which Fugaku couldn't see. Not that he would want to, if he knew what it looked like.

The curve of Sasuke's mouth was that of a snake looming over some helpless rodent. It bespoke of a cruelty beyond the ken of average men, of an evil, warped soul that Sasuke could never have possessed on his own.

But then again, it wasn't Sasuke's soul… The youngest son of Fugaku had met a fate that no one would ever wish on him, enemy and ally alike.

Even Naruto, whose life would long be famed for its inherent misfortune, would do it all twice over than suffer his former comrade's fate.

Fugaku eyed the sound-proofed wooden building they were standing in and turned to the broken shell that was once his son. His voice was barely a whisper. "Danzo has sent another message."

Sasuke would have laughed, if it hadn't been out of character. Fools, the both of them. Fugaku had long since filled him in on the alliance to dispose of Sarutobi, and the possessed Uchiha cackled to himself whenever he was alone. Old men, squabbling for power! Neither of the two partners trusted each other, and would undoubtedly betray their fair-weather friends at the first sign of weakness. Sarutobi's famed trump-card, the Kyuubi had been disposed of, according to Danzo.

The maimed-councilor hadn't appreciated Uzumaki's perceived betrayal at all, even though the idiotic blond probably hadn't meant anything of the sort. Sasuke snorted. Idiots. All the fool Jinchuuriki had done was resume communication with Sarutobi and politely refuse to speak at a few of Danzo's legendary speeches.

Sasuke would have used Uzumaki to feed the old man false information, painting his own picture for them (preferably one that portrayed some innocent person guilty) before dealing with them both.

And then killing anyone who looked at him cross-eyed.

What idiots they were, these geriatric fossils!

"_They aren't fools! They'll see through your act!" _Sasuke screamed mentally before turning to his father. "Oh? What does our favorite elder say, Father?"

Fugaku got a devious glint in his eyes and smirked. In Sasuke's opinion, the man looked rather wrinkled and constipated, but he didn't say anything. Fugaku continued in the same low, breathless voice. (Sasuke idly wished that his father would suffer a heart attack. Breathless and Fugaku really were words that should never have even the slightest of acquaintances with each other.) "Danzo is going to fabricate a temporary cease-fire, and you and I will be part of Sarutobi's guard… We'll be "attacked" by "Kumo" nins on the way to the Land of Iron and Sarutobi will die. Konoha needs a new martyr… That Hyuuga brat that the Kyuubi always mopes about doesn't influence the masses as much as she used too."

"A new symbol and a changing of leadership all in the same fatal swoop? I like it, Father." Fools. Sarutobi wasn't some doddering old dog, as much as Sasuke might wish it. The Hokage would be extremely difficult to kill. _"Father will handle it! And then he'll kill you too!!" _Sasuke shrieked in his own damaged mind.

The two Uchiha laughed long into the night, only one of them assured that his family had a future, the other working so that it wouldn't.

* * *

The two Jinchuuriki stiffened, both sensing the change immediately.

Yugito looked over at her counterpart and twitched her head to the right. Naruto nodded, and moved off to the left.

Both began to channel chakra discreetly, peering into the cavernous darkness.

Something was moving all around them, something wet, something… _**wrong**_. Something that smelt like the corpses of a thousand men, like a soggy, rotten body that had lain in human waste for years.

Naruto gagged. Then he stepped in something soft, wet, and squishy. The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki looked down.

Maggots.

Maggots **everywhere.**

His gaze locked with Yugito's, and he could see his own disgusted desperation mirrored in her ramen-bowl brown eyes. That soothed him, for some inexplicable reason, though thinking of food made him slightly nauseous.

They spread out further… Brown and Blue orbs piercing the inky black to the best of their ability.

But nothing happened. They were starting to get too far away from each other… Naruto saw his fellow Jinchuuriki looking at him and they silently agreed to meet at a large, jagged stalagmite.

"_**HEELLLOOOO!"**_the large, plant-man screamed at he popped out of the ground and stabbed Naruto in the heart.

Something seared through his veins as the Kyuubi's chakra automatically wrested control of his mangled organ and forcibly pumped blood throughout his body. Poison. Naruto fell to his knees. Everything hurt. His shredded heart pounded in his chest with the force of a ten-ton hammer. He felt a rib crack.

Plant-man melted back into the rock and Naruto completely collapsed. Then, with demonic chakra coursing through him, he blacked out.

Yugito was left alone.

* * *

Yugito jumped into the air and blasted fire at the ground. Zetsu quickly withdrew back into the ground, vanishing before the flames could reach him.

Maggots rained down from the ceiling and she coated herself in layer of fire. She had ignored them, originally, but they rotted whatever organic material they touched and had already caused several nasty injuries to her limbs. The air was rank, the smell horrible.

Her neck stung as the Nibi's chakra repaired the damaged tissue from a maggot's attack. She bent and avoided the cloaked arm that lunged out from the cave wall, searing it with fire as she went.

Zetsu screamed, the two voices ripping through the air and bouncing around the cave in a hellish, inharmonious assault on the universe (and, more importantly, her sensitive ears.) Disoriented for a moment, she doubled over as Zetsu's other arm came around and plunged into her stomach, right into her old, Rasengan-gifted wound.

The air was knocked out of her as she flew back, layers of maggots incinerated the moment she hit the ground. Strange, rotting vines ripped out of the floor and started attacking her. They were resilient enough that they wouldn't burn the moment they hit her fire, and when she did finally set one alight, the burning part literally just fell off, before regrowing from the living stump. She gathered her chakra together and sent a massive wave of flame at the gathered vines.

Yugito felt a momentarily rush of relief as the thick plant-appendages were all destroyed, but it vanished as more shot out on her right. She jumped back, the heavy vines crashing down where she had been standing a moment earlier.

Arms reached out from the wall behind her, she ducked, and the weapon-leaden limbs crossing over her head. She grabbed Zetsu's hands and pulled him out the wall.

Vines shot out of the plant-man's cloak, ripping it to shreds and cutting Yugito all over her body. Heavy vines wrapped around her stomach, cracking some ribs and raising her up towards the large flytrap-like jaws that collared the nuke-nin's head.

Fire and Plant raged against each other. But Yugito was losing, her limbs locked by Zetsu's own and the jaws continuously closing down upon her. No matter how much she burned off the Akatsuki nin, more plant limbs sprouted out of the tattered cloak and struggled to encase her.

Zetsu opened his mouth, and the rotting stench of a lifetime of cannibalism raped her nostrils, making her gag and disrupting her chakra for a moment, forcing her fire to fade. In an instant, she saw her defeat looming before her.

Then a blade of wind cut the arms, flytrap-jaws, and many of the vines off her attacker, spraying Yugito with bluish blood. She immediately channeled chakra to her hands and produced the hottest fire she could, searing a gaping hole through Zetsu's torso.

Ignoring her now-burnt limbs, she immediately incinerated her downed foe, a small ring the only object left in a black patch of burnt ground.

Yugito sighed, momentarily relaxing and recovering from the battle, before looking over at Naruto, who was splayed across a rock haphazardly, breathing raggedly. "Nice shot."

A look of irritation flashed across Naruto's face. "I whas aimmin for his head." He slurred, glaring at the plant-man's ashy remains.

Yugito couldn't help it. She started laughing. Naruto joined in, chuckling weakly.

Then, suddenly, all mirth vanished from her face and her professionalism regained control as she remembered who she was dealing with. Naruto stiffened too, and an awkward silence reigned throughout the cavern.

Then she noticed the blood seeping through his coat. "You're hurt."

He looked down. "Yeah, I guess so." Every heartbeat sent a shockwave of pain rocketing through his body.

Yugito frowned. "Do you require aid?"

Naruto looked puzzled. "The Kyuubi will heal me. It's no big deal."

The Kumo Jounin shook her head. "It'll go much faster if you bandage your chest, rather then just let everything leak out willy-nilly. Remove your jacket and shirt."

Naruto was petulant. "No. I'm fine."

Yugito glared at him. "You'll let me treat it, now." She smiled sweetly. "Unless you want me to just burn them off you as I cauterize the wound with some fire?" She set her hand alight for added effect. (She had a bit of a dramatic streak.)

The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki sighed before giving in. "Fine."

With Yugito's help, he fought his way out of his clothes. She ran her hands down his chest and over his wounded heart, causing him to wince.

"Don't be a baby, Uzumaki-san." She poked his heart again, but he managed to keep a straight face this time. "We don't have any bandages, or anyway to sterilize any we could make… Not that that would be of any matter to us. But I really should cauterize it, to be on the safe side. Think you can handle it?" The hint of a hint of something that might resemble a smirk forced its way onto her face.

Naruto glared at her, but didn't say anything. She rolled her eyes and wrapped her hand with fire.

Yugito looked him in the eye. "This is going to hurt, Uzumaki-san. On the count of three, alright?"

Naruto nodded, clenching his eyes shut.

Yugito mentally laughed. Shinobi could be such babies, sometimes. "Onnnne..." She drawled, elongating the word as long as she could. Naruto's face reminded her of a constipated lemon.

"Twoooo-I Lied!" She exclaimed suddenly, jamming her fiery hand into his chest.

Naruto grimaced in intense pain and his lips curled in a silent growl, but he didn't cry out. (Yugito wouldn't admit it, but she was slightly impressed. She had once been forced to do this for the Raikage and he had yelped in surprise and shock. Kirabi had laughed about it for weeks. And by laugh, she meant that he composed a stupid rap and sung it incessantly for weeks.)

"I thought it was on the count of three!" Naruto half-yelled at her, breathing heavily.

Yugito rolled her eyes. "Poor you. Let's get going." She started moving again.

Naruto glared at her retreating (and shapely) form. The only reason he didn't get angry was that the strain on the Kyuubi's chakra had lessened immensely, and he could feel his body healing at a much faster pace. Not bleeding everywhere was another definite plus. (His reaction time was still a bit off, like he had been drinking all night again. He'd bug Yugito about it to get back at her for her little stunt.)

Grabbing his bloody clothing, he paused only to pick up the Plant-man's ring and followed his fellow Jinchuuriki, stomping as many maggots as he could along the way.

* * *

**AN:**Dropped a not-so-subtle foreshadowing in… Though, this is a Tragedy, so it should be expected. I'm a bad, bad person. I'm sorry, Naruto.

It's fun to mess around with Sasuke. What is the deal with that guy, anyway?

Tried a few different things, this time… Namely a new method of Chapter break. If it doesn;t work, I'll immediatly revert to the "X"'s. Comment at will.

First fight scene! I'm determined not to make Yugito helpless, but Akatsuki extremely powerful. I hope that is what came across here... Zetsu's entrance was me mocking and admiring his entrance in the most recent Manga chapter. Zetsu has some serious balls -bulbs?- to pop out like that.

My internet is on the fritz… I got it working for a few minutes today, but I was so excited to read new chapters of some stories I'm watching, I forgot to update this… Hope I can get it soon.

(Added a few days later) So, internet still isn't working, so I actually went through and gave myself a basic edit! Yay! I changed a bit around, but it still is generally the same (Although, I did find that I used the word "body" around five times in two sentences, had to change that.) I caught a few mistakes I wouldn't have if I had just posted it the moment I finished, as I usually do.

Ok, well I'll wrap this up with the promise that that first reviewer can ask me any question and I'll answer it either in the body or **AN** of the next chapter. Please **R&R! **(_Especially the fight scene. It really is my first one.)_


	13. The best laid plans

Character is what you are in the dark.

* * *

The further they got from Akatsuki, the less friendly they became. Eventually, they refused to sleep in each others' presence.

Naruto gave up on striking a conversation and Yugito stopped pretending to listen. Each night they each took opposing wall and stared at each other through the looming darkness. They both kept their hands on their weapons, jagged rocks that Naruto had cut out of stalagmites after the plant-man's attack. Wind jutsu were surprisingly good for crafting things.

Their only possessions, besides the mangled clothes on their backs, were Naruto's looted flask and Yugito's prayer-beads. Though they didn't know it, the only reason they still possessed anything at all was by Pein's order. It was the "God"'s way of offering some small solace to those sacrificed for Peace.

Their demons offered them sustenance, of a sort. By separating and "consuming" demonic chakra, the two Jinchuuriki could revitalize themselves, though it was only a temporary solution and did nothing to stave off the pain of starvation.

Their tempers grew shorter with each second passed in the darkness far below the earth's surface. The everlasting night started playing with them, the two hosts becoming increasingly paranoid of the other. Dark plots blossomed in their heads, fueled by pain and subtle terror.

In part, it was the days without sun, the inability to feel the earth beyond the enclosing cage of dirt and rock, that did them in. Demons, for all their destructive power, were creatures attuned to nature and passed a small portion of themselves to their containers. Unable to feel the world around them, to see the heavens and earth spread before them, the two ninjas were losing their minds.

And, of course, friends in circumstance do tend to become enemies quickly.

In the end, after two and a half weeks of suspicious glares and secret plots, they rejoined the world without incident. Naruto had exited first, unable to stand the oppressive darkness any longer. Yugito had been slightly more cautious, waiting to see if he sprung any traps with his reckless charge.

Both took a minute to just watch the land and marvel in the sense of openness... of freedom, before turning back to the other.

And there they stood, two enemies united by chance and common threat.

His mood restored by the wind running through his hair, Naruto was the first to speak. "So... somewhere around Ame?"

Yugito frowned slightly, but nodded her head. "The rock formations give it away."

An eternity of silence passed between them.

Yugito turned her head. "That's east, then. Towards Konoha."

Naruto looked north. "Yeah, and Iwa is that way, you can see the plains of Kusa in the distance."

The world loomed over them. They remembered who, and what, they were.

"For whatever it means..." Naruto drawled slowly "...Thanks, Yugito-san."

Yugito looked away, suddenly embarrassed. "For whatever it means, thank you too, Uzumaki-san."

Then the two Jinchuuriki turned and became enemies once more. Neither one of them looked back.

* * *

_"The wife, she gasped as the serpent did twist,_

_They writhed and she moaned as they rolled through the mis-"_

"We don't have anymore food to give you, ungrateful bastard! Get the hell away from here!" The heavy, wooden door slammed shut behind the bartender, cutting The Serpent and Daimyo's Wife off with a loud thunk. Naruto swore from his position out in the muddy street. It pained him to admit it, but he wasn't used to opposition from anyone but his enemies and commanders. (Though, given his time with Yugito, he now knew whose opinion he cared about more.) The blind "love" that Konoha's citizens had distanced him from the days as the village pariah.

'But that's how they really think of me, the fuckers.' Naruto drank from his flask, refilled when he arrived in town the night before and after breakfast that morning. The damn thing ran empty again.

People outside of Konoha weren't too eager to meet his every need. Most towns were struggling to get by, everything from food to shitty, second-hand katanas were being shanghaied by the warring nations to fuel their armies. Nothing was left over for the smaller villages.

Naruto didn't even know what the name of the town was and, frankly, didn't care. It was just a stop on his way back to Konoha, which was on his way back to the front, with was on his way back to more cities like fucking Taikumo.

He didn't want to go.

_"Poor you. Let's get going." Yugito said, smirking._

He didn't want to go, though.

_"Any Kumo commander treating a ninja, especially a Jinchuuriki, but even a nin of lower rank without respect is summarily reprimanded by the Raikage. It keeps everything professional and organized." The dead child from Taikumo flashed before his eyes._

He didn't want to go. He had too.

At least he could see Neji and Konohamaru and Moegi and Udon again. Sarutobi, Ero-sennin and Danzo too.

Hell, he would be sort of happy to see Sasuke again, even if the man was a self-righteous prick.

* * *

"Hyuuga-san! Get your ass out here! Kumo's making its move!"

Neji rocketed out of his seat, leaving his letter to Tenten open on his desk, firelight flicking along its golden edges. He grabbed his vest and, slipping it on, rushed out of his tent and into the night.

His subordinate, Yoroi, was waiting for him, black facemask fluttering in the breeze. "The Hachibi's presence has been confirmed. Fugaku and Sasuke are leading the men around the left flank while you, Gekko-san, and I confront him."

Gekko Hayate was waiting for them on the edge of the camp, standing out of the way of the soldiers moving around. His signature sword was on his back, and his signature cough was obstructing his breathing. He bowed to Neji and turned, pointing at the forests ahead of them. "They'll be there in five minutes, and it is suggested" He broke into a coughing fit. "It is suggested that we stop them from reaching our camp. When the signal fires, we all move out."

The forest itself looked incredibly tranquil in the moonlight. Neji could see the treetops moving in the cold northern breeze.

He always took a moment to appreciate the world's beauty before fighting. Much like Naruto's sake and women, it kept him sane. "Byakugan."

He could see wildlife fleeing from the forest, sensing, perhaps, the battle to come. Certainly, the chakra in the area was charged, currents of energy buffeting against each other, ineffable to everyone but the few who could see of feel it. The natural chakra was grinding against the charged up mass of the two armies. The weather started to sour.

It was ironic, really, that ninjas were supposed to be stealthy killers of the night. While it was night, the sheer mass of men destroyed any chance of being stealthy. Whenever beings attuned to chakra gathered, nature responded. This response was rarely noticeable under normal circumstances, maybe some grass wilted or some flowers bloomed anew, but when groups the size of armies gathered, even if they did not fight, the world around them echoed their presence.

And when a Jinchuuriki of all things was added on top of that, everything got a little hectic. Taikumo, for example, would be barren for decades. It simply could not support any life until nature set itself right again.

When the Kyuubi had attacked Konoha, acres of forest had withered and refused to heal for years, and that was with a legion of Shinobi actively trying to revitalize it.

Clouds started swirling overhead, and a dark hail started falling. Neji could see the bright mass of Kumo's army rushing towards him and, behind him, the collected chakra of Konoha's army boiled over and lit his sight for miles.

A bird flew overhead. Hayate coughed.

It was time to go.

* * *

Deep underneath ANBU headquarters, the most powerful shinobi in Konoha sighed.

He was gazing through a one-way mirror, into an interrogation room. Uzumaki Naruto, or at least someone disguised as Uzumaki Naruto, was bound and waiting inside.

Sarutobi was sure that it was no hoax, but it never paid to be hasty in war. He was waiting for Jiraiya to arrive and verify the seal on the Jinchuuriki's belly.

Normally, a Yamanaka could skim the surface of a unknown's mind and in that way verify their identity, but if Naruto really was who he claimed to be, the Kyuubi would make that impossible. (Which would be proof of Naruto's claim at the cost of an able-bodied ninja, something Sarutobi would not allow.)

Naruto said that he had been captured by Akatsuki, but that he had escaped from his cell and fought several orange-haired ninjas with black piercings, each who had possessed an unique ability. He also said that he had luckily discovered a way into some tunnel systems and, after defeating a member of Akatsuki, made his way, alone, to freedom.

Unfortunately for the Jinchuuriki, Sarutobi had spent enough time around Naruto to know when the boy was hiding something. The Hokage didn't think that it was a stolen cookie this time, however. Whatever was being hidden was something big.

The elderly shinobi sighed again, and rested his head against the cold glass. How had everything slipped out of his control so easily?

A buzzer by the doorway rang, and a red light lit up, giving Sarutobi enough time to make himself look the dignified leader again rather than the tired old man. Jiraiya, his only student left in Konoha, entered the room.

"Sensei, the council requests your presence. Kumo is making another sortie and Fugaku is sending regular messages."

With the delay on the Hawks, the battle was probably over by now. But the bureaucrats liked to waffle and put on a show so that they could claim to have a role in any victory. Sarutobi shook his head. "Examine the seal. If he's telling the truth, escort him to the hospital. If not, leave him here."

Jiraiya nodded. "Even if it isn't the brat, I'll get some good information out of him one way or another."

The instruments in the interrogation room gleamed sharply.

* * *

Kirabi smirked. "Black eye, White eye, Sick guy. Mess with me, and you're gonna die!"

Neji groaned. Fighting this bastard wasn't nearly as bad as hearing his... whatever the hell it was. Poetry? Rap?

Yoroi was to the right, in one of the few remaining trees. Hayate was crouching to the left, coughing. Neji got off his back and got back into his stance.

Fighting this man was like fighting a force of nature. And he hadn't even gone into his demonic form.

The Jinchuuriki was toying with them. He was standing nonchalantly on the hillside, as if the landscape around him wasn't decimated and black hailstones weren't falling from the sky. He was scribbling something down in a notebook and, every once in awhile, would chew on the back of his pencil.

Yoroi leapt from the tree and was immediately blasted away with a chakra-laden, muscle-bound fist. The chakra was absorbed by the masked shinobi's natural ability, probably saving his life. When the trio had first arrived they had seen a man reduced to a bloody mist with the same blow.

The plan had been for Yoroi to drain the Hachibi's chakra, while Neji sealed it away temporarily. (He had done it too often to Naruto in spars to think that he could seal a Jinchuuriki's chakra longer than a few minutes.) The Kachibi would then be driven back with a combination of their attacks, focusing mainly on Hayate's swordsmanship. Then Konoha would have an actual hope for victory.

But the plan had hinged on their ability to actually hit the fucking Jinchuuriki.

Neji and Hayate attacked the man from both sides, hoping to graze him at the very least. Hayate was immediately assaulted by two chakra "tentacles". the sickly shinobi managed to slice one into nonexistence, but was grabbed by the other and was thrown into the sky like some wayward balloon. Neji flowed past the two meaty limbs that sought to crush his head together, and managed to touch the Jinchuuriki for the first time that night.

The channel flowing to Kirabi's left bicep was closed. His right, consequently, came around to remove Neji's head from his shoulders.

The Hyuuga barely dodged, and was twirled about by the force of the blow, looking for all the world like a demented ballerina. Yoroi lunged from behind Kirabi and started to drain his chakra away. Hayate fell back down and landed gracefully, immediately coming to attack the Jinchuuriki again. Neji regained his senses and charged Kirabi's open left side, landing two more channel-sealing hits.

Then all three points were opened again a rush of demonic energy. Hayate's blow was dodged and its owner sent flying again. Unable to stop, Neji's attempted fourth blow was avoided, and a kick came around to the back of his head.

With his vaunted Hyuuga vision, Neji could see Yoroi getting crushed into a crimson pulp.

As the kick connected and darkness took him, Neji thought of Tenten. Of her warm smile and comforting laugh.

Then he knew no more.

* * *

**AN**

Hello. Been half the age of the earth again, hasn't it? Promises to update, and all you get is neglect. I'm sorry.

I started my first semester of college, and my life rapidly spun out of my control. Maybe you know how it is, maybe you don't. Either way, I'm done for a couple months now. Expect more from me.

As to the shortness of this chapter, I apologize. Almost all of this was written before I started school, but I've lost track of where I was when I left off.

I'll be reading my story to remember. (Though, I do have the rest of the plot outlined, finally. Before I started this chapter, before I started college, I sat down and thought out where I wanted to go and how I wanted to get there. I will have a new chapter by the end of the week.)

Thank you for all the reviews, especially over the long break. They were all refreshing when I was buried in work.

However, some of you did ask questions. Here are some answers.

**DunmerFromAldRuhn** I am not sure that it would be called Cannibalism with Zetsu, but I thought it was the easiest way to get my point across. ( I am also irked by his sudden awesomeness in the manga. Right after I kill him off. Aw well.)

**Kraut007** I'll illuminate the Sasuke situation next chapter, but it is most probable that he is the host of Orochumaru. We'll have to wait and find out.

**Arofa** Most of the time Naruto is depressed, it is in the past. I'm sorry for the vagueness on my part, I'll make time periods more clear in the future. I (obviously) really like switching around a ton.

Finally, **I kicked a baby**. I will not be doing a lemon. They do deserve some privacy in their lives, after all, and the internet is already filled with better examples of erotica than anything I could produce.


	14. Burn me until I'm clean again

"Every one desires to live long, but no one would be old."  
-Abraham Lincoln

* * *

He was somewhere dark. And moist. And warm. It was like he was in the mouth of some enormous creature. Saliva seemed to pool around him, almost drowning him in its all-encompassing grasp.

Yes, it was like he was in a mouth. Or a womb.

Sasuke tried to open his eyes. If he did, though, then he could not tell. Either way, pure midnight-black surrounded him. Even when he looked around, or attempted to, the result remained unchanged. All he could see was an endless, consuming abyss.

When he tried to move his arm, to move at all, he found himself stuck, like some statue stuck between moist flesh pillows. The "pillows" wrapped around him, and he nestled into their soft, warm folds. The experience was sensual.

Part of him started panicking, but something larger and more powerful fought that down. Why fight? It was much easier to just close his eyes again and sleep. Sleep was nice. And good. Nice and good. Good and nice. Gice and nood. Sasuke giggled.

The larger-thing smiled in at him. He felt its approval. It reached down with a massive hand and _stroked_ him, its touch running down and around his body. Sasuke tried to groan with pleasure, but he couldn't move his mouth. But that was all right. Everything was all right now. It was taking care of him. He didn't have anything to worry was perfect.

Or maybe it was Gice and nood. Sasuke started giggling again, and this time he couldn't stop.

* * *

Fugaku paused, confused. For a moment, Sasuke's face had… turned in on himself, as if he was petting some imaginary puppy. The older Uchiha mentally shrugged. War gave everyone peculiar habits. His son had also started dressing in flowing pastel robes with the Uchiha clan symbol displayed on the back, all tied up with a purple rope. Fugaku shrugged this off, too. Peculiarities came with being a powerful ninja. One only had to look at Jiraiya and his student, the Kyuubi, to see how warping their position could be.

Shaking his head, he moved on. "It seems that the Kyuubi has managed to return to Konoha." The relief in his voice was palpable.

Sasuke's eyebrows shot up in surprise, and he stared blankly at his father. He quickly composed himself, however, and grinned. "How soon can we have him back on the front? We can start taking back ground lost."

Fugaku nodded. "And avenge all the soldiers slain by the Hachibi." He then strode over to the edge of the tent and looked out at the army. They were a ragged bunch, more akin to sloppy academy recruits than battle-hardened shinobi. But Fugaku was certain that if he looked at his own reflection at this point, he would look very much the same. Sasuke was the only person on camp that was able to keep immaculately clean, which was a bit of a surprise.

"He did pass his screening, didn't he?" Sasuke asked, his brow creased.

Fugaku nodded. "It's just the usual bureaucratic business about making sure his health is perfect before sending him out to the battlefield. They've locked him in the village, for the time being."

Sasuke frowned. "Then we just have to hope that we can hold off the Hachibi until he arrives."

The commander nodded again, before sitting down. "At least the damn engineer corps got the railways working again, though I'm worried it won't be enough." He tiredly waved his arm in the general direction of a large map. It had red and blue lines scribbled across it and various landmarks and statistical figures scrawled everywhere. It was clear that the red lines were slowly overtaking the blue. The older man laughed bitterly. "We can eat well while we get slaughtered by the Hachibi."

"We'll hold until the Kyuubi returns, Father." Sasuke said, firmly. Fugaku could only pray that they would be able to.

* * *

"Hurry, Naruto! The swings will be taken soon!" Hinata yelled at him as they raced for the park.

Naruto huffed and puffed, loaded down with several picnic baskets. "I'm trying!" In the background, the faceless citizens of Konoha all laughed and smiled at their antics.

Kiba shot past him, smirking. "You're too slow, Uzumaki! Hurry up!"

Naruto growled at him. "Shut it, Dog face!"

But the baskets were becoming heavier and heavier with every step. In succession, Neji, Konohamaru, and Moegi overtook him, running far ahead.

His arms started burning. Itachi-sensei was at his side, easily matching his steps.

As they started passing through a fenced alley, Naruto turned towards his teacher and begged. "Can you take these baskets, Sensei? I need to catch up with everybody."

Itachi shook his head. "You need to do that on your own strength now, Naruto-san. You volunteered to carry them, you need to take care of them yourself." He sped off too, joining everyone else ahead, with Udon trailing at his heels.

Sweat poured into the Uzumaki's eyes, and the fences bordering the alley started growing larger and larger, blocking out the heavens. He felt like he was carrying blocks of concrete, and his arms were going numb. The giggles of his friends in the distance started echoing off the walls, turning into shrieks of pain that bounced in the gloom.

Naruto looked up. Sarutobi, Danzo, and the entire populace of Konoha were looking down at him, shouting "Kyuubi! Kyuubi! Kyuubi!"

"Save us!" They screamed, their faces twisted with monstrous hate. Sarutobi remained silent, looking down at him sadly. Kunai were sticking into his robes, and blood was seeping down and staining the wall.

Naruto kept trying to catch up to his friends, but they just vanished, the distance between them was so great. He started to panic, his breath coming in spasmodic gasps. The walls grew even larger, enclosing him in darkness. He saw a glimpse of light ahead, and ran for it, the baskets scraping the ground.

The alley abruptly ended, leaving him standing on the edge of a massive chasm. Black whisps of nothing came floating up, caressing the sunlight. He stopped, barely managing not to fall in himself.

"Over here, Naruto!"

He could see all his friends playing in a park on the other side, laughing and smiling. Hinata saw him, and her face lit with joy. "Hurry, Naruto! We're all hungry and you have the only food!"

Naruto peered down into the abyss and gulped. "I don't think I can! I'll look for a way around!"

Hinata frowned. "There isn't one!" And when he turned around, Naruto could see that the alleyway had vanished, and that he stood on a pinnacle of rock, surrounded by the void. The baskets grew heavier, threatening to make him tumble off the spire and into the darkness. He turned back around.

"Please, Naruto! Help us!" Hinata's voiced was growing weaker, and she was grabbing her stomach. Everyone else in the park started gasping in pain, clutching their own stomachs and falling to the ground.

"You better help them, Uzumaki-san." Yugito said from his side, her eyes colder than a winter gale.

Naruto started crying. "I'm trying! But I can't make it!"

She only shook her head, and impassively jumped the distance, where she too collapsed.

When Naruto looked down, he could see that the rock beneath his feet was crumbling. "Please! I just want to help my friends!"

They were dying, their cries of pain growing fainter. Kiba was facedown in a puddle, Itachi-sensei impaled on a tree.

Hinata had her eyes closed, and was just lying on the ground. Her clothes were unruffled and she looked for all the world like a corpse at a funeral. Naruto could hear her dying breath.

Just as he started to jump, the spire supporting him collapsed. He barely managed to get into the air, but no matter how far he went he never got any closer to the park. The baskets fell out of his hands and tumbled into the chasm.

Naruto clawed at the air, but the abyss swallowed him too. The black turned blood red, and as it closed in he started to scream, and he-

Was woken up by a startled Ayame.

"Are you alright?" She asked breathlessly. "You were trashing around in your sleep and yelling something about baskets."

Naruto sat up, gasping, and put his feet over the side of the bed. The carpet, he semi-noticed, was not tan, like the one he was used too, but rather a dark red. "Where am I?"

"My apartment." Ayame said. "We went out to celebrate your return, remember?"

Honestly, Naruto didn't. He looked up and nodded. "Oh course I do. I was just was confused for a moment."

Ayame nodded and curled up behind him, wrapping her arms around his chest and pressing herself into his back. "Are you ok? It sounded bad."

"It was nothing." He lied, glancing at the clock. It was four in the morning. "Where are my clothes? I should probably get going. Practice, and all that."

She sounded confused. "But I was there when you canceled it, remember?"

_Fuck_. Naruto smiled, another lie easily coming to his lips. "Sorry. The nightmare took a bit out of me. I forgot I had canceled. I remember now."

Ayame twisted around until she was sitting in his lap. She smiled at him. "Good. I don't have work today, so we can sleep in." From the expression on her face, he doubted that they would get any sleep.

As she started kissing him, he gave in. It was better than spending the rest of the night both awake and alone. He would worry about feeling like shit for it later.

* * *

When they got up again that afternoon, Ayame insisted on making him breakfast for him. When it came time for him to leave and go to his final check-up, she kissed him goodbye.

It was a rather long goodbye.

Twisting his vest back into place, he started jumping across rooftops, bee lining towards the hospital. His head swam.

Several times, he misjudged the distance and almost fell into several streets. A few tiles came loose, causing at least one man to yell after him.

Stopping on a particularly large building, he hit himself on the forehead. "Get yourself together, shithead." He knelt down and grabbed his hair. "You can't fall apart like this. You're a grown man now, not some snot-nosed brat wanting to be Hokage."

The sixteen year old sighed, and laid down on the rooftop. Ayame was a grown woman. She could make her own choices.

Even if she was just latching on to him out of grief and fear, she could make her own choices. _Fuck._

Naruto sat up and looked up at the Hokage monument. Then, squinting, he looked at Hinata's memorial statue in the distance. "When did it all get so damn complicated?"

He lied back down. Clouds passed overhead and birds sang. The sun was bright and hot, like the heat source for a rooftop frying pan._ 'That's right, Sun. Fry me like an egg. Crack open my head and make my brains sizzle. Cut out all the crap and burn me until I'm clean again.'_

The sun just stood motionless in the sky. Clouds passed overhead and birds sang.

Naruto got up and went to the hospital.

* * *

**AN: **For Crimbo this year, Santa gave me a bucket load of illness! Yay!

Seriously, though, I was so sick for a while I had no idea where and when I was. I started freaking out at because I'd go from panicking at a test in college that I hadn't studied for, to laying on the couch, two weeks into winter break in an instant. Not being firmly anchored to reality was rather disturbing.

Anyways, I'll keep this short (like this chapter, sorry.) and just say thanks for all the reviews. Every time I post, I go to bed knowing I'll get a bunch of opinions on my work. (I was going to answer some questions, but I'll save that until next time. So, if you have a question you want answered, feel free to ask.)

That bit in the beginning with Sasuke is probably the closest I'll ever get to writing a Lemon. Yuck.

Thanks, and until next time, **Read** and **Review**!

-T.J.


	15. Notice

Hello, Everyone. T.J. here, and sorry if I'm disappointing you, but this is just an A/N.

First things first, I am going to rewrite Traitor. Maybe I've matured (in taste, at least) since high school, which is when I started this, but I have come to loath my work with a passion. Writing this story is no longer something fun to do on the weekends, and it's all do to my own incompetence and lack of coherence. I had no plot really planned in the beginning, and I have a number of threads that have bound me into places I do not want to go.

So, I'm adhering to that great internet policy: Kill it with Fire.

I'm currently rewriting Chapter one, which will be a mix of Chapters one and two. Fortunately, I finally have a Beta, DunmerFromAldRuhn. He's already started calling my out on my laziness. It's great (and motivating. I'd probably be sleeping now if he hadn't encouraged me to get writing.)

So, please bear with me. I really do appreciate the responses I've gotten for my writing, and I am going to make Traitor far better. I actually have a plot planned out, for one thing.

Thank you for all the reviews so far, and I hope you all find Traitor.2 more enjoyable, because I certainly will.

If there is any lingering concerns, opinions, or insights about any plot issues or flaws you have perceived, then there is no time better than right now to voice them. I am overhauling everything, after all.

See you soon,

-T.J.


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